Posted by Daud Olatunji, Enugu on
IT was like a drama when an illegal gun-factory was discovered recently at Orji river local government in Enugu State. The proprietor of the illegal factory, along with his equipment, was instantly relocated to the new site of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the state command.
IT was like a drama when an illegal gun-factory was discovered recently at Orji river local government in Enugu State. The proprietor of the illegal factory, along with his equipment, was instantly relocated to the new site of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the state command.
Coincidentally, few days to the parade of the suspects numbering about 19 , no fewer than three commissioners in the cabinet of the state governor, Barrister Sullivan Chime, had escaped death by the whiskers at the same place along Enugu-Onitsha expressway when some robbers, numbering about 50, attacked, them.
The 32-year- old Clitus Ejike was the star suspect among those,including students, who were paraded for allegedly robbing a grandmother of one of them of her valuables, money and a lexus jeep. The suspected gun manufacturer was said to have specialised in supplying and manufacturing guns for armed robbers before he met his waterloo recently.
He was said to have opened gunfire on the men of SARS who had stormed his house following a tip-off received from one of the robbers arrested, and was eventually arrested before being whisked away to the permanent site of SARS, along with all his equipment, including both completed manufactured guns and yet- to- be- completed ones.
Crime File gathered that his presence in the area has made the local government area a haven for robbers as they robbed innocent travellers plying the highway day and night and carted away valuables at gun point but for the untiring efforts of men of the state police command who often resisted the robbers' nefarious acts.
While parading them recently, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr Michael Abbattam disclosed that the gun manufacturer has been supplying armed robbers guns with which they terrorised the people in the area before he was nabbed.
According to the PPRO , 'the suspects opened gunfire on the men of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the command when they went to his house at Orji river along Enugu-Onitsha expressway to arrest him following a tip -off by one of the armed robbers arrested'
The man who was paraded with no fewer than five locally made guns , one cut- to- size and a double barrel gun, among others, which were still under production, denied the allegation, saying he was manufacturing guns only for the men of a vigilante group.
While explaining why he opened fire on the SARS men, the suspect stated that he mistook them for robbers, saying robbers often terrorised his people in the area. He claimed that when he discovered that they were policemen, he opened his door for them. He however disclosed that he learnt gun manufacturing from his father who was a renowned hunter in Benue state and, since then, he had been practicing it and selling if to vigilante groups.
Also paraded was, an claimed student of Enugu State University of Technology (ESUT) who has recruited his schoolmates to rob his grandmother of some jewelry worth about $4,000 and a lexus jeep at Trans-Ekulu in Enugu state. He drove it to Portharcourt where he sold it and, within two days the jeep which was blue before it was stolen was painted black by another student of Benue state University in Markurdi.
A visibly worried Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr Michael Abbattam, marvelled at the superb work done on the stolen jeep by Celestine Nnamdi who claimed to be combining spray painting with his education in Markurdi, saying 'there is no way we could detect that the jeep was stolen and the person therein on the road was an armed robber.
The PPRO also gave the journalists at the parade a shocker when he revealed that 'the number plate which had the inscription of Internal Affairs FG 11 A14 was fake and was used to beat the security personnel on the road 'The police spokesman said while explaining that the police got the hint of the nefarious act of the suspects through a tip off which led to their arrest.
He disclosed that the command has charged the prime suspect who was the leader of the gang who incidentally masterminded the robbery attack on his grandmother to court while both the spray painter and the other members of the gang were being interrogated before charging them to court.
Explaining how the suspects carried out the operations, the PPRO said that ' the first operation was foiled when their only gun suddenly exploded as they were scaling the fence to rob the old woman and run away.
'These criminals went to the same house again to rob the woman and they successfully did that before the policemen arrested them following a tip-off. The woman was robbed of her valuables properties , her money, jewelry and her lexus jeep. They drove it to far away Markurdi to sell it there and within two days, the jeep has been changed from blue to black. The number plate has been changed. They replaced it with Federal Government number which is fake' Mr Abbattam said.
While fielding questions from journalists, the student turned spray painter Celestine Nnamdi stated that ' I am student of chemistry at the Benue state University I also worked as spray painter and I have been in this business since three years ago.' Nnamdi said while denying that he did know the jeep was stolen saying he only charged the man that brough it to him N150,000 and he had only paid N30 000 promising to pay the rest after the job.
In his own defence Ibru Hamsat who also claimed to be a student of Benue state university said he read marketing and confessed that his offence was that he facilitated the change of colour of the stolen jeep by looking for the perfect spray -painter saying he was ignorant of the stolen jeep. But the PPRO maintained that all of them belong to the same gang of robbery saying how would a person changed the colour of a jeep and also fixed a fake number plate to the vehicle and claiming to be innocent.