POLICE OFFICER ARRESTED FOR ROBBERY IN EKITI

AN Assistant Superintendent of Police with Ekiti State Police command has been arrested for his alleged role in the robbery incident that took place in Ikere-Ise Ekiti last week.

The officer whose identity was not disclosed was said to have led a robbery gang that robbed commuters on that day but while trying to escape after the incident, his mobile telephone dropped from his pocket.

A source said the robbers, who brandished AK-47 rifles during the operation dispossessed commuters, mostly business women, of their personal effects such as mobile telephone handsets, money and bags during the operation that lasted for about 30 minutes before the police was alerted.

To cover up their identities, it was gathered that the robbers, led by the police officer, had dressed in mufti and mounted a barricade on the road.

A source disclosed that the Police officer’s phones had dropped from his pocket at the robbery scene while fleeing, upon realizing that a detachment of policemen from Ikere Divisional Police Station were on their trail.

Upon getting to the robbery scene, the Police were said to have picked up the phone and other exhibits and shortly after they left, the robbers were said to have called to enquire whether the officer had escaped unscathed.

According to the source: “When the police discovered the phone, they picked it up as part of the exhibits. But unknown to his gang that he had lost his phone, they called him asking if he escaped unhurt, but they did not know that the phone call was answered by detectives.”

It was also gathered that after a thorough investigation, the police established a strong link between him and the robbers, the reason the Police Commissioner Mr Sotonye Wakama ordered his arrest and detention.

This was coming barely two weeks after a 400-level Business Administration student of Ekiti State University, Mr Seyi Fasere,  was  alleged to have been wrongly killed by a police officer in Oye Ekiti  under the pretence that he was involved in the robbery that rocked the United Bank for Africa.

Speaking to newsmen on telephone, the Commissioner of Police confirmed the incident. He said the officer, whose identity he could not disclose, is already in police detention at the Command’s headquarters in Ado Ekiti.

Wakama said: “The officer was not involved in the robbery but his number was on the armed robber’s telephone number that was abandoned at a robbery scene and we want to ascertain whether he is in contact with them or not.”

Source: Guardian