Police arrest ‘mastermind’ of Abuja foiled bank robbery

The FCT Police Command on Thursday said it has arrested one Ernest Ewim, the alleged mastermind of the foiled bank robbery that occurred in Mpape area of Abuja on December 28, 2019. Spokesman of the command, DSP Anjuguri Manzah, confirmed the development in a statement in which he said the 29-year-old suspect, “who played a […]

The FCT Police Command on Thursday said it has arrested one Ernest Ewim, the alleged mastermind of the foiled bank robbery that occurred in Mpape area of Abuja on December 28, 2019.

Spokesman of the command, DSP Anjuguri Manzah, confirmed the development in a statement in which he said the 29-year-old suspect, “who played a major role in the foiled robbery attempt” at a branch of First Bank Nigeria Plc, was arrested at his hideout in Katampe 1 on Wednesday by operatives of the Command’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

“With this arrest, the total number of suspects arrested in connection with the foiled robbery attempt is now five – Ernest Ewim,29, Larry Ehizo,30, Princewill Obinna, 24, Timothy Joe, 21 and Elijah David, 19,” the statement read in part.

Daily Trust recalls that during the parade of the four suspects initially arrested at the command’s headquarters on Tuesday, Ehizo, a staff of the bank, said one Ernest, a customer of the bank and barman at a beer parlour in Mpape, was the brain behind the foiled robbery.

“Ernest said I should show them where the CCTV cameras were and where the officer on duty that day would be. He even came along that day in a different car and stayed across the bank,” Ehizo had said.

Another suspect, Obinna, who reportedly led the gang that attacked the bank, also told journalists that the same Ernest called him on December 24 and linked him with Ehizo.