19th May, 2012
An accident victim, who escaped from the hospital in Badagry, western Nigeria, after N4.09 million was found in his car, has been linked to a robbery in Kogi State, central Nigeria. And the police said he has been arrested.
The new Commissioner of Police in the state, Malam Mohammed Katsina, disclosed this while briefing newsmen on activities of the command since his assumption of office.Katsina said the suspect, who was not named, was one of those who took part in the raid of a first generation bank in Ankpa during which six persons were killed in April.
He was on the run when his vehicle crashed and was rescued by officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps.
He said his men also arrested three suspects, including a pastor, believed to be the armed robbers who invaded the said bank in Ankpa area of the state, looted it and killed six persons last month.
The police boss said that he stumbled on many leads that pointed to one Innocent Onyeonura as the possible leader of the gang.Katsina said that intelligence reports, including snippets from CCTVcameras, confirmed his suspicions.He said that the alleged mastermind of the April 25, robbery in Ankpa was traced to Rivers and Edo States and later, Abuja and Badagry.
He said that in Badagry, the suspect, who was adorned in complete police camouflage uniform, was involved in an accident while trying to escape arrest.“Road safety officials then rushed him to the hospital for treatment only for them to discover that he was on the police “Wanted List.”“
However , before the police could reach him there, he escaped from the hospital.“A search on his vehicle paid off with the recovery of the N4.091 million.”Katsina revealed that further investigation led to the arrest of one Karachi Ekwenye, Pastor of Divine Rescue Mission, Port-Harcourt.
He said that N300,000 of the looted money was also traced to the bank account of the pastor, who was alleged to have usually offered spiritual assistance to the gang anytime there was an operation to be carried out.
Katsina said that a female member of the gang, one Joy Onyeonura, was also arrested while two other suspects, Christian Onyeonura and Olachi Onyeonura (female) were at large.The police boss said that one of the suspects has, however, been spotted on the Nigeria/Benin Republic border.He said the police also recovered a Toyota Hilux Jeep with foreign number: 43 IN 0026 and a Toyota Previa.Katsina said the Toyota vehicle, with registration number: Lagos: TH 289 KJA, was recovered from them with “substantial blood stain.”