A former operative of the Department of State Services, DSS, has been paraded by the Abia State Police Command over his involvement in the attack and robbery of a bullion van.
Police Commissioner in the State, CP Janet Agbede, while parading the ex-DSS officer, Prosper Israel, alongside his younger brother, Chinwendu Israel and eight others on Monday at the Abia State Command Headquarters in Umuahia, disclosed that a sum of N10,184,000 ( Ten Million, One Hundred and Eighty-four Thousand Naira) was recovered from them.
TheFact Daily had reported the July 26 attack on a bullion van being escorted by the Police, on the Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway near Ntigha Junction in the Isiala-Ngwa North Local Government Area of Abia State.
The dare devil robbers had ambushed the van and opened fire immediately it approached the junction, shooting dead the cash officer on the spot, and carting away sums of money.
CP Agbede disclosed that the arrest of the suspects followed a careful study of their modus operandi, after which the Command set up a Special Intelligence Technology-led Investigation Squad mandates with a clear directive to arrest and recover weapons used by the deadly gang.
The other eight suspects arrested include Adesoji Adeniyi, an indigene of Ondo State, resident and arrested in Lagos State; Nnamdi Nwaosu aka ‘Prophet’, from Rivers State, resident and arrested in Imo State; Nwachukwu Albert aka White, a Delta State Indigene resident and arrested in Lagos.
Others were, Felix Ajalaja from Ondo, resident and arrested in Rivers State; Moshood Opeyemi aka Abiola, from Osun State, resident and arrested in Rivers State; Mathew Christmas aka Aluwa, an indigene of Delta State where he resides and was arrested; Azubuike Amaefule aka Zubby, from Abia State, resident and arrested in Rivers State and Monday Samuel aka MD from Delta State, resident and arrested in Ondo State.
Exhibits recovered from the suspects include 1 General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) with 53 rounds of live ammunition, 13 AK47 rifles with 1,749 live ammunition, 2 Improvised Explosive Dynamites (IEDs), 1 cut-to-size double barrel gun with 5 live cartridges, and 84 AK47 magazines.
Other exhibits recovered were, a Mercedes Benz mini truck which the suspects used in concealing their firearm, and the cash of N10.184m.
It was gathered that all the suspects had in their individual voluntary statements confessed to being members of a 14-man armed robbery gang that specializes in bullion van attacks, and that their last target had been under their surveillance for some time.
In his confessional statement, Mr. Prosper Israel said he was dismissed from the DSS in 2007 after his service at the Government House, Umuahia, Abia State ended in the same year.
