By Augustine Ehikioya
In the fight against crimes in Delta State, Police officials in the State have arrested five suspected criminals.
They include four fraudsters, who specialize in deceiving unsuspecting persons by reporting successful transaction as declined transaction.
The fifth suspect arrested was a suspected cultist, who was also alleged to be sponsor of a cult group in the State.
A statement issued by the Police Public Relations Officer, Delta State Command, DSP Bright Edafe, and made available to Security Watch Africa (SWA), said fifteen ATM cards were recovered from the fraudsters.
It said “Sequel to the Cult clashes in Sapele, Oghara and some other parts of the State, the Commissioner of Police, Delta State, CP Ari Muhammed Ali FCIA, psc+ deployed tactical teams to Sapele Local Government Area to restore sanity in the affected areas.
“Consequently, on the 23/01/2023 at about 2000hrs, acting on credible intelligence on an alleged sponsor of Aro Bagger cult group and also an active member of the group, a combined team of the Command Special Anti-Cult Unit (SACU), operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS) and men of Operation Delta Hawk, stormed the above mentioned Hotel, trailed and arrested one Chief Joseph Ologbo ‘m’ 37yrs of Otor Community in Sapele LGA, a renowned suspected financer and member of Aro Bagger cult group.
“When search was extended to his fully tinted Toyota Tundra Van, one unlicensed pump action gun, two live cartridges, one expended cartridge, and an Aro Bagger cult regalia were recovered.
“The suspect has made useful statement and will be charged to court upon completion of the investigation.”
It went on “On the 22/01/2023 at about 0800hrs, operatives of Decoy Squad led by ASP Julius Robinson acting on a credible intelligence on a syndicate who specializes in defrauding unsuspecting victims of their hard earned money, the operatives stormed Ogwashi-Uku town and arrested the following suspects; (1) Allison Louis ‘m’ 27yrs a native of Numan LGA of Adamawa State, (2) Sunday David ‘m’ 22yrs a native of Oturkpo, Benue state, (3) Peter Akagbai ‘m’ 20yrs from Umuokwe Quarters of Ogwashi-Uku and (4) Chibuzor Elumeze ‘m’ 23yrs from Ogbenta-Obi Quarters in Ogwashi-Uku.
On the exhibit recovered from the syndicate, the statement said, it included one (1) tricycle, fifteen (15) different bank ATM cards.
It also revealed that the suspects, during the course of the investigation, confessed to a series of fraud committed within Ogwashi-uku and Asaba metropolis with POS operators and filling stations as their major victims.
“The suspects stated that they go to filling stations, POS operators and super markets, purchase items and also make withdrawals with the ATM cards and then call their banks and give a false complaint that the transaction was not successful.
“The banks without due investigation will then wrongly debit the victims and credit the accounts of the suspects. They have so far defrauded their various victims several millions of naira.”
The statement said investigation is still ongoing on the case.