Bullion Van Robbery: Police Recover N10.18m From Ex-DSS Officer, 9 Others

A former officer of the Department of State Services (DSS), Prosper Israel and nine others have been paraded over alleged robbing of a billion van of millions of naira and killing the cash officer.

Parading the suspects at the Police Headquarters in Umuahia, the Abia State capital yesterday, the commissioner of police, Mrs Jenet Agbede, said the sum of N10,184,000 was recovered from them.

She added that the suspects were members of a 14-member gang that on 26th July, 2022, waylaid the van on Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway near Ntigha Junction in Isiala Ngwa North local government area of the state.

Other suspects are Adesoji Adeniyi aka ‘Soji’ (Ondo State), Nnamdi Nwaosu, aka ‘Prophet’ (Rivers State), Nwachukwu Albert, aka ‘White’, the 1st Armourer (Delta State) and Chinwendu Israel (Abia State).

The rest are Felix Ajalaja (Ondo State), Moshood Opeyemi (Osun State), Matthew Christmas aka Aluwa (Delta State) Azubuike Amaefula, aka ‘Zubby’ (Abia State) and Monday Samuel,  aka ‘MD’, the 2nd Armourer (Delta State).

She said, “The suspects in their individual voluntary statements confessed belonging to a 14-man awful armed robbery gang with specialty in bullion van attacks and that for about two months before the attack, the van had been under their surveillance.”

The police chief said other exhibits recovered from them included one General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) with 53 rounds of live ammunition and 13 AK47 rifles with 1,749 live ammunition.

Others are two improvised explosive dynamites, one cut-to-size double barrel gun with five live cartridges, and 84 AK47 magazines and a Mercedes Benz mini truck they used in concealing their firearms.