The Kogi State Police Command has confirmed the arrest and detention of a police inspector, Aminu Muhammed, for alleged car theft.
Confirming his arrest to newsmen, the spokesperson of the police command, William Ayah, said the accused robbed thresidences of an area around his duty station, the ‘C’ Division in Lokoja, the state capital.
Ayah added that the Commissioner of Police in the state, Bertrand Onuoha, has ordered a thorough investigation into the alleged misconduct.
He disclosed that luck ran out on the inspector following the escapades of a notorious gang who specialised in robbing houses of household items and cars in the state.
The stolen car was found in the workshop of the policeman’s panel beater who was already working on changing the car’s colour at Ochadamu in the Ofu Local Government Area of the state.
Those who knew the vehicle and were aware of the robbery incident in the owner’s house on 14th June 2024, quickly raised the alarm upon sighting the car.
The car’s number plate had already been changed to an Abuja number just as a car dealer’s receipt, backdated to 2020, was presented by the officer as his evidence of purchasing it.
His panel beater had primed the car preparatory to changing its colour before the alarm was raised and policemen of the Quick Response Unit (QRU) attached to the Police Area Command, Idah, apprehended him.
Upon reaching the ‘A’ Division in Lokoja, where the QRU took the apprehended panel beater, it was found that the criminals who committed the robbery had already been arrested for committing another crime.
One of the members of the gang of armed robbers, who had also been on the police wanted list for other crimes, confessed to the commission of the robbery, and named the police officer as the mastermind.
He confessed that they were contracted to rob the house of the owner of the car for the sole aim of getting the car for the inspector.