Police smash robbery gang led by Soldiers, NSCDC official

The Rivers State Police Command has busted a robbery gang led by operatives of the Nigerian Army and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.

The Command in a statement it issued on Monday, revealed the identities of the security personnels perpetrating crimes.

Corporal Isaac West (08NA/61/2653), who was deployed to Delta State, and an NSCDC operative, Jabila Kammangar, alias Kaka, posted to Kabba in Kogi State, were identified as the personnels in uniform leading the robbery gang.

According to the police, both operatives, who met during their tour of duty in the anti-crude oil theft and illegal bunkering units of their respective services, confessed to detectives how they usually abandoned their duty posts to perpetuate their criminal enterprise owing to its lucrativeness in Rivers State.

Police discovered that West left his 3 Nigerian Army Battalion Base in Warri, Delta State with a sick pass, but never returned over a month after the pass expired.

West, a father of four, visited Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, from his unit at the behest of Kammangar, who had told him about the operation.

The spokesperson, Rivers State Police Command, Grace Iringe-Koko, said the gang was arrested following investigations into an alleged burglary that occurred at warehouses at Elimgbu, the property of one Emmanuel Nwangwu, and a woman, Ndifreke Ekanem.

Iringe-Koko explained that a distress call was made to the police by the ONELGA Security Peace and Advisory Committee around 11pm on the day of the incident, relating how five of the suspects were rescued from a mob, which was about to lynch them.

Iringe-Koko said: “Badly bruised from the mob attack, the suspects who were held down by some members of the local vigilante group, were eventually moved to the police hospital by the patrol team that was deployed after the distress call.

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“In the course of the investigation, a matter that started as a burglary incident turned out to be a network of vicious armed robbers serving in the country’s security agencies, who abandoned their duty posts across different states to operate criminal empires in Rivers State.

“Two of the suspected burglars arrested that night were Corporal Isaac West (08NA/61/2653) who was deployed to Delta State and an NSCDC operative, Jabila Kammangar alias ‘Kaka’, posted to Kabba in Kogi State.”

The police stated that West confessed he had participated in several criminal operations with Kammangar and revealed the names of his colleagues who were also members of the gang.

Further investigations revealed they were part of a wider ring of criminals specialising in armed robbery, hijacking, and goods diversion.

Corporal West disclosed to the police how he and other Army personnels: Lance Corporal Abdul Musa (13NA/70/10545), Lance Corporal Mgbe Jeoffrey (16NA/75/6896), and Corporal Innocent Okwoli (12NA/68/6552), were leaders of the gang said to have hijacked many trailers.

Iringe-Koko added: “The gang, findings revealed, was responsible for the February 17 hijack of a trailer laden with N25 million worth of fertilizer belonging to one Alhaji Sadiq Adams; a trailer load of Plaster of Paris (POP) and a 40-foot container of imported clothing from China were also hijacked and diverted in February.

“They had a network of informants who gave information about the itinerary of goods-bearing trailers. They would then dress in full military gear, lay in wait for the trailers, and accost them with a white Hilux van as they approached their location.

“They would then proceed to intimidate the drivers, beat them up and hand their keys to designated drivers who would then divert the trailers to waiting receivers.”

Also arrested were eight civilian collaborators: Olisa Emeka, George Obilor, Sampson Wilson, Alfred Abeke, Barry John, Auwalu Aliyu, Uchenna Nwali and Alhaji Sofinu Haruna.

Police investigations revealed that the key coordinator of the group’s activities was Corporal Okwoli, a native of Otakpo in Benue State and a soldier posted to Intels at Onne in Rivers State.

He confessed to having started his gang after he led a successful operation in a gang he was introduced to by one Abbas and two others.

Iringe-Koko said that the police had recovered the hijacked PoP cement and were in the process of making a recovery from the receiver of the trailer load of fertilizer. 

Also recovered was a white Toyota Hilux used in their operations.

Three of the soldiers have been dismissed by the Nigerian Army after they were handed over to the service by the police to undergo internal discipline.

The Rivers State Commissioner of Police, CP Olatunji Disu, said the Command would continue to partner with sister agencies to curb crime and criminality in the state.

Disu commended the team that smashed the syndicate, noting that the command remained resolute in ridding the state of hijackers and diverters of people’s goods and valuables.