A serving police sergeant, Ibrahim Odege and one Sampson Odege have been arrested while carrying out robbery operation at Elekahia Housing Estate, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Sergeant Odege is attached to the Operations Department of the Rivers Police Command while his accomplice, Inomoghe, 32 years old, hails from Nembe, in Bayelsa State, but resides at Rumuokwrushi in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area.
While confirming the incident, spokesperson of Rivers Police Command, SP Nnamdi Omoni said the suspects were arrested at about 10 p.m. on Saturday.
He said they were arrested by policeman who responded to a distress call at the Elekahia Housing Estate that two armed robbers who were robbing people and dispossessing them of their valuables.
“The timely arrival of the Police led to the arrest of the two armed robbers who were later identified as Sergeant Ibrahim Odege attached to the Operations Department of the Rivers Police Command and one Sampson Inomoghe ‘m’ 32yrs from Nembe in Bayelsa State, but resides at Rumuokwrushi in Obio/Akpor LGA.”
“The duo was arrested at the scene of crime with the following Exhibits: Three different Handsets belonging to their victims and one locally made Bareta Pistol. One of the Victims, Mrs Doris Elechi identified them as those that robbed her of her Tecno Handset, which is one of the exhibits recovered.
“At the Station, the suspects confessed to have carried out the robbery attacks among other revelations.
But our correspondent learnt from another source that the two suspects were actually arrested by security guards and residents of Elekahia Housing Estate with Sergeant Odege found with the Nigeria Police Force Identity card.
It was gathered that the suspects who were on a motorcycle had robbed two ladies of their phones and other valuables at about 10:30pm.
After this, they attempted to rob a man who raised an alarm which attracted attention of security men who immediately closed the gates to the estate while, some of the residents gave the robbers a hot chase.
The residents caught the suspects and discovered that one of them was putting on Police combat T- shirt and a Police ID card was found on him.
The suspects were later handed over to Elekahia Divisional Police headquarters.
The President of Elekahia Progressive Youth, Prince One Aholu, also confirmed to our correspondent on telephone that he got the report that the suspects were arrested during a robbery operation in the area by security guards who subsequently called in police officers from Elekahia Divisional Police Station in Port Harcourt to take them away.
The Youth President disclosed that one of the suspects was in possession of a Nigerian Police Identity card and that the two armed robbery suspects were armed.
But Aholu commended the Police for their swift response, while urging youths in the community to remain calm as the matter is being investigated by the Police.
He urged the Police to pay more attention to Elekahia ring road and railway axis of Port Harcourt as the areas have become a den of criminals.
He alleged that many of the criminals use the railway and Ring road axis as operational base, while urging the security agencies to do everything possible to rid the spots of criminality.
