Suspected robber who disguised as policeman to snatch vehicle arrested in Abia

The Abia State Police Command has arrested a suspected robber, Samuel Okechukwu (28), who allegedly snatched a bus from its owner while pretending to be a policeman.

Disclosing this in a press briefing on Tuesday, the state Commissioner of Police, Leye Oyebade, said that the suspect was arrested on February 1 by officers and men from Central Police Station, Aba.

According to the police commissioner, the suspect with other members of his gang accosted one James Eke along Pound Road, Aba, at gunpoint while he was dressed as a policeman and snatched his Datsun mini bus with registration number APR 244 YH.

“The arrest was made possible through intelligence-led policing and suspect has confessed to the crime. He is also helping the police in their investigation and will be arraigned in court on completion of the investigation,” Oyebade added.

Metro learnt that the suspect belonged to a three-man gang which had been operating on roads within Aba before his arrest. When interrogated by the police, Okechukwu confessed to the crime, but said that it was his first time of following others on robbery operation.

According to a police source, the suspect’s gang specialised in snatching vehicles from the owners. “The method was that the leader, who was the one arrested, would pose as a police sergeant. Whenever they stopped a vehicle they wanted to snatch, the driver would think they were policemen.

“They would ask for vehicle particulars and if the owner had them, they would find other faults. The ring leader would ask the driver to come down, collect the key and drive the vehicle under the pretence that it was being taken to a police station, with the owner beside him.

“The two others would follow on a bike. They would drive it to a lonely road while the two others would join their leader, open the door, point a gun at the owner and dispossess him of other valuables, especially phones.

“One of the gang members would join the driver and they would zoom off in the snatched vehicle, while the third gang member would escape on their operational motorcycle, leaving the owner in the middle of nowhere,” the source told Metro.

But luck reportedly ran against the suspect when he as the leader was trying to reverse the snatched vehicle and it entered a ditch.

The owner was said to have raised the alarm, causing the suspect to abandon the vehicle in the ditch to run away.

But the owner ran after him and held his shirt until policemen from Central Police Station got there and arrested the suspect.