A Deputy Superintendent of Prisons in
the Nigerian Prisons Service, Mr Collins Ugwu, has been arrested by the
police in Enugu for an alleged involvement in armed robbery.
Ugwu, a native of Ezza in Ebonyi State,
who resides in Abuja, where he works at the headquarters of the Nigeria
Prisons Service, was nabbed in Enugu on June 26.
The senior prisons officer was arrested
with suspected accomplices, Ifeanyi Ozor, a native of Enugu State who is
also resident in Abuja; and Smart Osetu from Oguta in Imo State.
The Commissioner of Police, Enugu State,
Mr. Mohammed Danmallam, disclosed, while parading the suspects, that
apart from armed robbery, the prisons officer and his gang were also
involved in conspiracy, malicious damage, stealing and ‘obtaining by
tricks.’
The Enugu police chief revealed that
Ugwu and his colleagues were apprehended after the police gathered
intelligence information on their activities.
According to him, the gang stayed around
the premises of commercial banks to monitor prospective victims who had
come to withdraw money.
Danmallam said, “The suspects (Ugwu,
Ozor and Osetu) belong to a syndicate that specialises in monitoring
anyone that has gone to bank to make withdrawals and trail them to a
point where they can smartly force the door or the windscreen (of the
victims’ car) open with their instrument and steal the said amount.
“They are also part of a syndicate that
buys goods from traders and generate fake payment alert to the owner of
the goods without him knowing.
“They were nabbed along Ogui Road, Enugu
by the operatives of the Enugu State Police Command on June 26, 2018,
following intelligence information gathered concerning their nefarious
activities.”
Items recovered from the suspects,
according to Danmallam, include a Golf car with registration number
Abuja RBC 220 KF, and a broken plug which they allegedly use in
“scratching down” the window of the car to steal from their victims.
Ugwu rebuffed attempts by journalists to
get him to explain why a deputy superintendent of prisons would venture
into armed robbery and other criminal activities, especially after
witnessing, from close quarters, the harsh treatment meted out to
criminals in Nigerian prisons, where they are compelled to live in
sub-human conditions.
Sitting quietly on the bare floor, Ugwu refused to respond to questions.
He also bowed his head to prevent journalists from taking pictures of his face.
Our correspondent observed that although he was handcuffed like other suspects, Ugwu looked ‘fresher’ than his colleagues.
The police commissioner further
explained that Ugwu and the other suspects were helping the police in
their investigations and would soon be charged to court.
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