Police bust deadly robbers in Rivers

Two deadly armed robbers who specialized in robbing bank customers identified as Ikenna Obiko and Isichukwu Eneji have been arrested by the police in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State.

The two robbery suspects who were arrested while riding a motorcycle on 12 February confessed to multiple crimes, stating that they specialized in loitering outside the premises of banks for their operations, according to a press statement signed by SP Grace Iringe-Koko the Spokesperson for the Rivers Police Command.

She said the suspects confessed that whenever they notice any customer with a sizeable withdrawal, they will trail them riding their motorcycle and when they see an opportunity to pounce, they will rob them of the money.

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“The duo also revealed that on some occasions, they just wait for the bank customers to park their vehicles and they proceed to open the vehicles with a master key that they had crafted and cart away with the money withdrawn and any other valuables.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,” according to the poilice statement.

The Rivers Police Command also said the two robbery suspects recently involved in the robbery of a pick-up vehicle conveying Indomie noodles and theft of one hundred thousand Naira (N100,000) from the driver have been arrested.

According to the statement the two suspects had, within this year, stolen three motorcycles, one of which has been recovered and is now at the Borikiri Police Station in Port Harcourt. The motorcycles were stolen from where their owners parked them along Choba Road and Eliozu.
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According to the Command, the suspects who are now in police custody at the Borikiri Police Station, hail from Oguta in Imo State.

“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 is a father of three children, said his late uncle tutored him in the art of robbery.

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The suspects relocated to Port Harcourt last year following the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) crisis in Imo State and other parts of the South East.

Meanwhile, the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu , has directed that the two suspects should be arraigned immediately in an appropriate court of law.

The Commissioner also enjoined residents of Rivers State to be vigilant while carrying out banking transactions and to avoid making stops whenever they have a substantial amount of money or other valuables in their cars.

He also 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.