1st January, 2021
Okafor Ofiebor/ Port Harcourt
Members of a vigilance group at Okporo Community, Rumuodara in Obio/Akpor local Government area of Rivers have apprehended one Ndubuisi Igwe, aka, SS Chief, alleged to be member of three-man robbery gang.
The suspect was arrested while members of the vigilance group confronted the gang as they were robbing worshipers coming back from church in the early morning Friday, the New Year Day.
The President of Rumuodara Youth Association, Frank Weli, confirmed the incident, in a telephone conversation with our correspondent.
He explained that he got a distress call that some hoodlums were robbing worshipers returning from Church early Friday morning and he quickly called members of the vigilance group in the area to alert them of the development.
According to him, when members of the vigilance group got to the scene of the robbery, the robbers who were armed men with Ak 47 rifles shot into the air in order to scare them and make way for their escape.
But Weli disclosed while two members of the gang who are armed with AK 47 riffle successfully ran away, members of the vigilance group were able to apprehend the ‘SS Chief’ whose gun was not visible at that point in time.
He revealed that a search on the arrested suspect led to the recovery of a locally made pistol with two cartridges
He added that the hoodlums inflicted injury on some of their female victims while harassing them indecently before the intervention of members of the vigilance group.
Weli said the suspect has been handed over to Okporo Police Station in Rumuodara.
The spokesman of Rivers State Police Command, SP Nnamdi Omoni, has not responded to text messages sent to him to confirm the arrest as at the time of filing this report.
However, a senior police officer confirmed the incident to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity.