Chiemelie Ezeobi
Barely a month after the Publisher of Vanguard Newspapers, Pa Sam Amuka, was robbed and brutalised, detectives attached to the Lagos State Police Command have arrested three Chadians in connection with the incident.
Amuka was attacked by a four-man armed robbery gang on June 5, 2016, who raided his Anthony residence in Lagos and made away with money for a foreign trip and other valuable items.
The suspects who were identified as, Atim Abubakar, Mohammed Musa and Razaq Hassan (the driver), were picked up from different locations within the metropolis last Wednesday.
In his confessional statement, Abubakar, alleged that the attack on Amuka was hatched and arranged by two of the security men attached to his house.
He said it was Mohammed, who actually contacted him for the operation, adding that he was only told that they were going to pick up some cash somewhere around Anthony area.
He said: “During our interaction, Mohammed told me that it was one Gambo who has the contact of the house we are going to rob. Mohammed said Gambo had assured him that they are not going to encounter any problem during the operation, since the security men attached to the house were in the know of the attack.
“On the day of the operation, we stormed the house around 3a.m. On arrival, we met the gate open. The security men were already expecting us. We had no difficulty accessing the place.
“The two security men on duty advised us to tie them down. They also said we should not tie them too hard. Based on their instruction, we tied them and left them inside the gate house.
“We entered the main house through the ceiling. We met only the owner of the house at home sleeping in one of the rooms upstairs. I stayed downstairs while Hassan and Musa went upstairs.
“As I ransacked the cabinet in the seating room, I saw two pieces of foreign currency on the floor. At the end of the operation, I got N100,000 as my share of the stolen money and a wristwatch.”
Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, while parading the suspects yesterday at the command headquarters in Ikeja said the fourth member of the gang is presently on the run.
He said effort was presently ongoing to tracking down the fleeing gunman at all cost, adding that items such as sledge hammer, iron cutter and a Mitsubishi Galant Salon car was recovered from the criminals.
The Lagos Police boss said: “Based on the account Amuka gave us, three persons out of the four suspects who robbed him have been arrested. From their confessional statement, it is certain that the three suspects actually participated in the robbery.
“A Mitsubishi Salon car used by the robbers, one sledge hammer, and one iron cutter were recovered from the suspects. The three arrested suspects are Chadians who are members of a notorious cross border bandit.
“Investigation is presently ongoing. At the end of the investigation, we believe that we will get to the root of the matter since it was not the first attack on Amuka.”
