Operatives of the Edo State Police Command have arrested four suspects who specialised in robbing unsuspecting members of the public in military uniform.
The suspects were also said to belong to cult groups who terrorise people in Benin, the Edo State capital.
At a press briefing on Tuesday, the command’s spokesperson, SP Chidi Nwabuzor, said the suspects were arrested by the Intelligence Unit, following a petition by one Grace Ainabe over a robbery incident in her house.
Nwabuzor said the suspects, Iyabor Victor, 35, Osas Aganmwonyi, 28, Nosa Owie, 24, and Idi Etukudo reportedly broke into Ainabe house in Teboga Community, off Lucky way, in army camouflage.
He stated that the suspect robbed the house with guns and carted away her belongings, including money, phones and jewellery.
He said, “The suspect entered her house through the ceiling and robbed the entire family of their belongings and forcefully transferred the sum of N447,000 from the victims’ account.
“They collected her phone and forcefully obtained her secret code number for them to have access to her bank account.”
After the transfer, Nwabuzor said the suspects changed the money to foreign currency and shared it among themselves before they were arrested by the police.
The items recovered from the suspects include iPhone 13 worth N500,000.00, iPhone 6 worth N48,000.00 and jewellery worth N850,000.
Others are table fans valued at N140,000, standing fans, N95, 000, an LG split Air Conditioner worth N360,000, a washing machine, Inverter battery/accessories, and gas cylinders among others.
The prime suspect, Victor, said an in-law to the victim, who he identified as Johanna, gave them the information needed to carry out the robbery.
“I got the military uniform from the house of a military officer, who died some time ago.
“We entered the woman’s house through the ceiling, forcefully collected her pin and transferred the money in her account,” Victor added.
