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Sunday, September 19, 2021

Police arrest two suspects, recover N401,000 in Abuja ‘one chance’ robbery

The criminals threatened to rape and kill the victim if she failed to cooperate with them.

• September 19, 2021
Police officers
Police officers used to illustrate the story [Photo credit: THISDAYLIVE]

Police in the Federal Capital Territory say they have arrested two ‘one chance’ robbery suspects after rescuing a female victim and recovering N401,000.

Police Public Relations Officer in the FCT, Josephine Adeh, disclosed this in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that “one chance” is a crime in which assailants pose as cab drivers and passengers, take victims, particularly female commuters into their cabs and dispossess them of their valuables.

Ms Adeh said the suspects in this instance were arrested by operatives of the Wuse Division of the police on “stop-and-search” duty to especially look out for victims of “one-chance” criminals.

She stated that exhibits recovered from the suspects were one black Toyota Corolla car, their operational vehicle, N401,000, a point-of-sale machine, four mobile phones, two sharp knives, ropes, foreign currency notes and duct tape.

The police officer said preliminary investigations revealed that the two suspects posed as a taxi driver and passenger waiting to pick other passengers.

“In this instance, the suspects picked up the victim who had just closed from work.

“On their way to her destination, the assailants locked the car, changed the route, tied her up and demanded her ATM card.

“They also threatened to rape and kill her if she doesn’t cooperate with them,” she said.

Ms Adeh said N391,000 was withdrawn from the victim’s account via ATM and POS transactions, adding that the N10,000 cash she had was also collected.

She added that one of the suspects, who tried to evade arrest, was intercepted by the Commissioner of Police in charge of FCT, Sunday Babaji, who was also on routine confidence-building patrol around the axis.

Ms Adeh added that Mr Babaji pledged the commitment of the command to curtail the activities of “one chance” and other criminal elements in the FCT.

Mr Babaji also pledged to ensure diligent investigations and prosecution of the suspects.

He urged residents to report suspicious movements, emergencies and distresses, through 08032003913, 08061581938, 07057337653 and 08028940883.

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