The Zone 2 Police Command, Lagos, has busted a chain of suspected armed robbery syndicate at the Alaba International Market in the Ojo area of Lagos State and recovered the entire cables stolen from a company in Yaba, valued at Eighty Million Naira (N80m).
Parading seven suspects in connection with the criminal act on Friday, July 15, 2022, at the command headquarters in Onikan-Lagos, the Zonal Police Public Relations Officer (ZPPRO), SP Hauwa Idris-Adamu said the feat was achieved within two weeks.
According to her, the armed robbers stormed Jus Partners Cosmopolitan Limited, a telecommunications consultancy, at Yaba on June 20, 2022, tied the security guards on duty and made away with 16 drums of 96 Core Starlite Optic cables, estimated at Eighty Million Naira (N80m).
Giving this criminal act, the company’s management petitioned the Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG), Bode Adeleke, who consequently detailed the CSP Adams Uba-led Zonal Monitoring Unit (ZMU) to uncover the cabals.
The Unit, the ZPPRO stated, immediately swung into action, and deployed its technical and Intelligence-based investigation.
A team of covert detectives accompanied the complainant into the market and directed the company’s representative to pretentiously walk into the heart of the business community on market survey of the particular cables.
This idea turned out fruitful as the first person the the company’s representative met, though in the business of buying and selling of such items, later gave the investigating team a leeway into nabbing the culprits.
Photographs of the exact cable were shown, and to show commitment, the company was directed to make a down payment of Five Hundred Thousand Naira (N500,000) before the company’s representative could be taken to the warehouse, a deal that was struck and money remitted into the account of one Felix Onyema, who turned out to be the principal suspect.
Eventually, the cables were recovered from Felix Onyema’s residence at Sibiri, who has since then gone into hiding.
Afterwards, all the seven suspects,neck deep in the criminal act, were nabbed by the operatives and whisked to the Zone 2 Police Command.
The Zone 2 PPRO gave the identities of the culprits as Sunday Alagbogu, 47; Celestine Nnailo, 40; Obinna Jonathan; Onyedika Vincent, 22; Sylvester Nwajagu, 47; Obinna Onu, 39 and 32-year-old Blessing, wife of the principal suspect, Felix Onyema, who is currently at large.
