My charms failed me during operation – Robbery suspect

An armed robbery suspect, Edwin Iduh, who is currently helping the police in Benue State with useful information about the operations of his gang has blamed his ordeal at the doorstep of his friend.

Iduh, a native of Otobi in Otukpo Local Government Area of the state said he was lured to the scene of robbery by his friend, now at large and given a gun that he didn’t even know how to operate just as the charms he trusted failed him.

“I was arrested at a village near Ugbokolo after I had earlier escaped with a bullet wound from the robbery scene along Otukpo-Enugu highway. It was my friend who came to my house one evening and said that I should follow him out for a job. When I inquired about the kind of job, he disclosed that we were going to rob motorists plying the route.

“At first, I declined the offer but he persuaded me to the point that I agreed and we went in the night. My friend was stopping the vehicles while I was in the bush observing him and the others until the police came and started shooting at us.

“I had to drop my gun because I didn’t know how to operate it. I was shot at my back by the police but my friend ran away. Even the charms he gave to me that was supposed to make me invisible or not be harmed failed,” Iduh narrated.

The suspect, who claimed that the bitter experience was his first robbery outing, explained further that he managed to escape with bullet wounds to a nearby village but the relief was just a short one as the police fished him out in no time.

The Commissioner of Police, Bashir Makama, who paraded the suspect during a news conference alongside 23 others for various crimes at the Police Command headquarters in Makurdi, said the matter was still under investigation.

Makama said the police operatives in Ugbokolo were on routine patrol when they received distress call that some robbers were terrorising motorists along the Otukpo-Enugu highway.

He noted that a gun duel ensued between his men and the robbers when they reached the scene, adding that one of the robbers, who was later identified as Edwin Iduh, was hit by bullet but managed to escape to a nearby village.

The police commissioner added that the suspect was later apprehended with the gun injury while a cut to size single barrel gun, a torchlight, a handset as well as a pair of canvass belonging to members of his gang were recovered from the scene.

Makama urged members of the public to offer useful information to security operatives in the state that would lead to the arrest of those at large and expressed satisfaction with the command’s yuletide operations as he posited that the state generally witnessed crime-free celebration.

He assured that police would not relent on evolving strategies to maintain law and order.