AFTER days of denial, the Adamawa State Police Command yesterday confirmed the involvement of three officers in the sale and rentage of arms and ammunition to armed robbers.
The three officers – an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and two Inspectors – collected N200,000 per operation from men of the underworld as cost of rentage of two AK-47 rifles.
The state Police Commissioner, Mr. Adenrele Shinaba, said the officers had been arrested.
Shinaba, who spoke in Yola, the state capital yesterday, said the gun-for-hire scandal is an embarrassment to the command.
The three officers are ASP Abuna Mainasara, a native of Gombe State, Inspectors Daniel Eliphas and Abubakar Hali. They will soon be charged to court.
Shinaba said a Sergeant posted to the armoury detected the deal between the officers and the robbers.
The police boss said Mainasara was the chief supplier of arms with which armed robbers terrorise Adamawa, Taraba and Gombe states, which one Stephen Tizhe named as an accomplice in the crime.
The arms recovered from the police officers included two AK 47rifles rented out at N200,000 per operation, 1,200 rounds of life ammunition and one empty magazine..
Commenting on the text message that the Officer in Charge (O/C) of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, (SARS), ASP Mohammed Ali and 20 other policemen were arrested by a vigilante outfit leader in the state, Alhaji Ali Kwara, the commissioner stated that the rumour was an attempt to tarnish the good work of the officers in reducing criminal activities in the state.
He described Ali as a dedicated officer who had foiled several robbery operations in the state.
Shinaba later presented a certificate of commendation to Ali for his gallant contributions in crime fighting.
The police boss urged indigenes of the state not to be disturbed with the arrest of the three officers, saying that everything would be done to ensure that the state is rid of undesirable elements in the force.
He also called on the people to always give the police useful information “so as to checkmate the activities of these criminals”.
Meanwhile, there was a new twist in the spate of bank robberies in Ogun State as bandits, in the early hours of yesterday, raided a branch of Wema Bank in Ifo Local Government Area of the state without firing a single shot.
The robbery gang was said to have carted away huge sums of money at the bank located at Matthew Bus Stop, Ifo.
Reliable sources said the bandits had a smooth operation for about two hours, after successfully tying the bank’NEWSMEN learnt that the gang members scaled the bank’s fence and used saw to break the burglar proof before gaining entry into the vaults.
While the operation lasted, the robbers allegedly did not fire a single gun shot.
Sources said when the bank officials arrived in the morning, they found the night guard still tied with rope while several doors within the banking hall were left open.
The bank officials were said to have invited policemen at the Ifo Divisional Headquarters to the scene and the guard was subsequently untied and whisked away.
However, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Muyiwa Adejobi, could not be reached for comments on the incident. Meanwhile, a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) has been removed by the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Nicholas Nkemdeme, over the raiding of about 15 houses in Abeokuta, the state capital, last weekend.
The DPO (name withheld) was said to have given “wrong information” to the police commissioner over a robbery incident that occurred at Oke-Ejigbo area of Abeokuta on Friday through Saturday morning.
Two people were said to have been killed in the incident while several others were reportedly injured.
The NEWSMEN gathered that the bandits moved from one house to the other without any hindrance or resistance from security agents.
But, rather than provide accurate briefing for Nkemdeme, dependable sources said the DPO trivialised the matter and claimed that only two houses were raided.
When the police commissioner eventually learnt about the robbery in the media, he was said to have been angry with the DPO and ordered his immediate redeployment.
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