EDO, Nigeria – The Edo State Police Command has taken into custody two public servants, a Nigerian Navy officer and a Correctional Service officer, on charges of armed robbery and car theft.
Ibrahim Adamu, 25, of the Nigerian Navy, and Abdullahi Abdulwahab, 26, from the Nigerian Correctional Service, were apprehended in Ekpoma, Edo State, clad in their military uniforms.
The arrests were made by a specialized team of the command following reliable intel, as disclosed by the State Command Spokesperson, SP Chidi Nwabuzor.
“The suspects assaulted the driver of an unregistered C300 Mercedes Benz in Sapele, Delta State, seized his car, and coerced him into transferring N400,000 to their bank account,” Nwabuzor reported during a press briefing on Tuesday, May 9, 2023.
The suspects’ plan was to ferry the stolen car to Abuja to be sold. However, their scheme came to a grinding halt in Ekpoma, Edo state, where they were intercepted by the police.
“The suspects have confessed to their crimes, purporting to be personnel of the Nigerian Navy and Correctional Service respectively,” said Nwabuzor. The vehicle and military uniforms were also retrieved from the suspects, bolstering the case against them.
During an interview with the press, Adamu, a Navy recruit since 2019, confessed to the theft of the Mercedes Benz C300 in Delta state.
He explained, “After my course, Abdulwahab came to visit me and asked about my plans, assuring him that we would make money and he agreed to join me… I took over the steering from him and started driving but when we got to Oghara Road, he offered us money to settle the matter… We were driving to Abuja to sell the car when the police arrested us.”
Abdulwahab, a Correctional Service officer from Kaduna State, claimed that this was his first involvement in a robbery, and he was merely responding to Adamu’s invitation to Warri for the job.
This disconcerting incident has laid bare the corruption that infiltrates even the nation’s security forces, casting a long shadow on public trust in these critical institutions.
It is a stark reminder that the fight against crime is not simply external; it must also be waged within the ranks of those charged with upholding the law.
