Robbery Kingpins Arrested, Paraded in Calabar

Robbery Kingpins Arrested, Paraded in Calabar
By Joseph Kingston, Calabar

It was indeed the end of the road for two persons suspected to be armed robbery kingpins who allegedly terrorized residents of Ugep in Yakurr and Obubra Local Government Areas as well as parts of Ebonyi State.
Parading the suspects at the weekend, the Cross River State Police Command said items recovered from them included over one million rounds of ammunition, locally made pistols, assorted riffles including AK47, G3, a 14 seat ‘Joy Long’ bus with the inscription Government of Anambra State and another vehicle belonging to the Cross River state government.
Their names were given as Chukwuka Umoke, from Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State and Leonard Azubuike from Okporo in Orlu Local Government Area of Imo State.
They were said to be among the notorious gang that operated in and killed about seven persons in Ugep penultimate week.
The robbery incident however led to the vandalisation of the Police Station by locals who accused the Police of failure to intervene when they (indigenes) foiled the gang’s attempt to rob First Bank of Nigeria Plc
Explaining the incident that led to the arrest, the Cross River State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Hogan Bassey said two members of the robbery gang were picked up in the Afikpo area of Ebonyi State through the combined security operations of both States.
Bassey, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, said some members of the robbery gang were killed during a gun duel with the police. He said an army sergeant attached to a military checkpoint around Amasiri/Afikpo junction in Ebonyi State was killed by the dare-devil robbers.
Also speaking, Mr. Fidelis Alor, officer-in-charge of the Robbery Unit in the Criminal Investigation Department, said the process of arrest was long, adding that most of the robbers lost their lives in the process.
“One of their gang members was shot at Ugep and they carried him like that during the process of their escape. They met various check points at Ebonyi State in three or four locations, where one of them testified he personally shot one army sergeant. Another policeman was also shot in Ebonyi State.
“These were the same set of robbers that terrorized Ugep in Yakurr Local Government of Cross River State. They came to Ugep on a Sunday, stayed in a hotel, surveyed the town on Monday and started the operation on Tuesday. We have not been able to bring together the number of casualties in that Ugep incident.
“They have confessed that they have participated in four different robbery incidents in Ondo, Lagos, Cross River and Imo States. Umoke confessed that in one of the robberies, they gave him N1.6m, and in another he got $1, 000, while in the third he sustained bullet wounds and that one native doctor in Port Harcourt treated him.
“They have said that their gang leader was one Henry and that their source of arms and ammunition is Niger Republic,”Alor, a DSP, maintained.
During interview, one of the suspects, Azubuike confirmed that he was responsible for the death of the army sergeant at a check point close to Amasiri/Afikpo in Ebonyi State.
”We were to go and rob a bank at Ugep but did not succeed because the resistance put up by the Police and some of the indigenes were beyond us, so, we found a way to escape.
“The man that introduced me to this business is Benjamin ‘China’.He called me to come and direct the driver to where he was because the driver was not conversant with the road. I did not actually know the arrangement; I am just a victim. I was only leading them when I discovered that they were shooting the military men, I was in a Toyota Sienna bus with another person leading the bus that the robbers were,” Azubuike said.