by crossriverwatch admin
Ikechukwu Okereke, a suspected member of a five man robbery gang that recently shot and killed Inspector Matthew Badere has been nabbed by men of the Cross River State Criminal Investigations Department (SCIB).
Popularly known by his friends as Wicked Bishop, Okereke was apprehended at 8 Miles in the outskirts of Calabar, the Cross River State capital following a man hunt for the gang which has perpetrated several robbery operations in the state in recent times.
A police source, DSP Joseph Inuyashe told CrossRiverWatch at the police headquarters, Diamond Hill, Calabar that the suspect was given out by a GSM handset he and his gang members carted from commuters who were attacked at Akamkpa along the Calabar-Ikom highway which he converted to personal use.
“After browsing through the contents of the phones one of them was found to contain incriminating text messages, as Ikechukwu was using one of the stolen phones which they robbed during one of their operations with the owner’s SIM card and other information intact”. He said.
According to the police officer, the owner of the phone who incidentally was the driver of the commercial bus that Ikechukwu and his gang robbed at Akamkpa, was constantly sending messages to the phone, “Abusing the robbers and one of the text messages reads ‘God will not allow you to go unpunished and you will soon be arrested all of you that robbed our vehicle and collected our hard earned money and other valuable property. You don’t know how we suffered to get the money, you will sure be arrested”
When asked to explain the source of the text messages, Ikechukwu alleged that there were mysterious messages, insisting that he was not a member of any robbery gang but when the police contacted the owner of the phone, the driver reliably identified the suspect as the gang leader that attacked them along the Ikom – Calabar highway and took away their money and handsets
Confronted by the driver’s facts, Ikechukwu decided to confess, explaining that he was the leader of the five-man robbery gang that blocked the highway and collected huge amounts of money, including N145, 000 that was snatched from the driver of the vehicle.
“We were also the ones that killed the Inspector because he was a torn in our flesh so we had to shot and kill him”. He said.
When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Office Mr. John Umoh confirmed the arrest but suggested the press should not publish the story yet, as they were still trailing Ikechukwu’s partners in crime who were still at large.
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