Operatives of the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team, IRT, have arrested one of the robbers declared wanted for April 5 attacks on banks in Offa, Kwara State.
Operatives of the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team, IRT, have arrested one of the robbers declared wanted for April 5 attacks on banks in Offa, Kwara State.
The suspect, Michael Adikwu, an ex-policeman, was reportedly dismissed in 2012 by the Kwara State Police Command for allegedly aiding the escape of some robbery suspects.
Adikwu, until his dismissal, was attached to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, of the state command.
Adikwu was said to have been arraigned in court and remanded in a prison, where he spent three years.
He was reportedly arrested on Tuesday in a town in Kwara State by the DCP Abba Kyari-led IRT operatives, who acted on a tip-off from members of the public.
A senior police officer told Punch: “He (Adikwu) was a SARS operative at the Kwara State Police Command. He used to fraternise with robbers.
“There was a robbery that happened in Kwara State about six years ago. The robbers killed somebody and escaped. The police were able to arrest those robbers.
“He collected money from those robbery suspects and released them. Later, the robbers were rearrested and they confessed that he aided their escape. He was arrested, tried in an orderly room trial and dismissed.
“He was charged to court together with the robbery suspects and was in prison for three years. He and some of the robbers were able to manoeuvre their way out of the prison and formed a robbery gang.”
The Police Public Relations Officer, Kwara State Command, DSP Ajayi Okasanmi, said arrests had been made, but he had yet to receive information on Adikwu’s arrest.
