The Rivers State Police Command has arrested Ikenna Obiko, 30, and Isichukwu Eneji, 24, for allegedly trailing and robbing bank customers in the state.
The suspects were arrested on February 12, 2024 at the Olu Obasanjo area of Port Harcourt.
The police also said that both suspects have confessed to multiple crimes, stating that they specialised in loitering outside the premises of banks and gauging the amount of money customers withdrew.
Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer and Superintendent of Police, Grace Irige-Koko, describing the suspects modus operandi, said: “Whenever these suspects noticed any customer with a size-able withdrawal, they tail him or her in their motorcycle and when they see an opportunity, they pounce and rob them.
“The duo also revealed that on some occasions, they just wait for the bank customers to park their vehicles.
“They then open the vehicles with a master key they had crafted and cart away with the money withdrawn and other valuables.
“They also admitted to hotwiring and stealing parked motorcycles, as well as robbing unsuspecting bank customers of their money at ATMs around Olu Obasanjo and Aba Road.”
Irige-Koko also said that the two suspects took part in a robbery involving a pick-up vehicle conveying noodles, where they forcibly snatched N100,000 from the driver.
“Police investigations confirmed that the two suspects had, within this year, stolen three motorcycles, one of which has been recovered and is now at the Borokiri Police Station in Port Harcourt. Two motorcycles were stolen from where their owners parked them along Choba Road and Eliozu,” said the spokesperson.
She also revealed that both suspects are now in police custody at the Borokiri Police Station.
Iringe-Koko said: “Ikenna, a father of two children, claimed that he was lured into a life of crime by one of his community leaders, now deceased. Isichukwu, who has fathered three children, said his late uncle tutored him in the art of robbery.
“Police investigations show that the suspects both relocated to Port Harcourt last year following the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) crisis in Imo State and other parts of the South East.”
The Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, has directed that the two suspects be charged immediately in an appropriate court of law.
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Disu also enjoined Rivers State residents to be vigilant while carrying out banking transactions and avoid making stops whenever they have a substantial amount of money or other valuables in their cars.
He encouraged banks to report any suspicious activity around their premises to the police.
He urged members of the public to continue to be law-abiding and support the police in the fight to rid Rivers State of crimes and criminality.
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