Police smash armed gang in Enugu

The Enugu State Police Command has smashed a six-man armed robbery gang and captured four of the gang members operating within 9th Mile Corner on the outskirts of Enugu.

The police also recovered three locally made guns from the suspects and nine GSM phones belonging to travellers they had robbed.

The Command’s spokesman, SP Ebere Amaraizu, said in a statement on Monday that the armed gang had been robbing travellers coming from Lagos and heading towards Benue State for Christmas before they were confronted by police operatives.

Amaraizu said that the feat was achieved by police operatives of the 9th Mile Corner Division acting on intelligence information while on surveillance patrol in the early hours of December 24.

The spokesman said that the smashed six-man armed robbery gang specialised in blocking highways, hijacking buses with passengers and taking them to a secluded portion of the bush.

He said that four of the gang members, dressed in police uniform, were arrested after a gun duel which left the armed robbers fatally injured, while two of them believed to have been touched by bullets escaped with injuries.

“It was gathered that suspects allegedly dressed in suspected police uniform along 9th Mile Corner/Nsukka Expressway by Egede community in Udi Local Government area had stopped two Hiace commuter buses of a commercial bus company believed to be coming from Lagos and heading to Otukpo in Benue State.

“They diverted the buses to another bush road where they were allegedly robbing their victims before the operatives swooped on them.

“The arrested fatally-injured armed robbery suspects later gave their names as Kenneth Eze, Ojobo Ude, Emeka Eze and Sunday Ugwu.

“They claimed they all hailed from Obollo-Afor in Udenu Local Government Area of Enugu State,’’ he said.

Amaraizu said that police had intensified manhunt for the fleeing injured members of the gang.

“Members of the public, particularly hospital operators, are to watch out for anyone with injury or injuries suspected to be that of gunshots and report promptly to a nearby police station for prompt necessary action,’’ he said.