C’River Police Arrest Six Over N49m Theft, Filling Station Robberies
By Benjamin GBOR
The Cross River State Police Command has arrested six suspects in connection with alleged burglary, theft and robbery incidents in Calabar, including the theft of goods and cash valued at N49.15 million from a technology company.
The arrests were made by operatives of the command’s Violence Crime Response Unit, VCRU, according to the Commissioner of Police, Ajo Ordue, in a statement issued on Wednesday.
Ordue said four suspects, Hassan Ahmad, 38; Jabiru Ibrahim, 35; Usman Garuba, 22; and Abdullalim Hassan, 23, were arrested over the June 3 burglary at Royaline Technologies on 49 Ettagbor Road, Calabar.
He said the suspects were allegedly members of a six man gang that broke into the company and stole 62 mobile phones of various models, accessories, speakers, earphones and N529,000 in cash.
The stolen items were valued at N49,150,715, the commissioner said.
According to Ordue, Ibrahim was traced to Kano, where he was arrested on September 2 before being transferred to Calabar the following day.
He said investigations were ongoing to arrest the other members of the alleged gang and recover the stolen property.
In a separate operation, VCRU operatives arrested two men, Samuel Udo, 29, and Ezekiel Dominic, 22, over alleged robberies targeting filling stations around the University of Calabar area.
The suspects were reportedly apprehended by a mob after a filling station raised a distress call. Police operatives intervened and rescued them from possible jungle justice before taking them into custody.
Preliminary investigations indicated that the suspects allegedly posed as customers seeking to buy petrol before threatening filling station attendants and fleeing with the fuel.
Police said 20 litres of petrol and a blue tricycle were recovered from the suspects, while efforts were ongoing to identify and arrest other persons allegedly involved.
Ordue commended the VCRU for its intelligence gathering, investigative work and interstate collaboration, particularly the operation that led to Ibrahim’s arrest in Kano.
He ordered a thorough investigation into both cases and directed that anyone found culpable be prosecuted in accordance with the law.
