A bank official and driver, three policemen steal N37 million

A bank official and driver have connived with three policemen attached to a new generation bank to steal N37 million belonging to the bank. The incident has led to a massive operation by the police which resulted in the arrest of a manager of the bank and a cash officer.

The theft has gone a long way to confirm police assertion that some banks had recruited armed robbers as employees and that most of the bank robberies were planned by insiders.

P.M.News gathered that during the operation, the suspects identified as Tony Ukaegbu (driver) Emmanuel Onyekpe (Cash Officer) and three policemen attached to the bank were assigned to transfer N37 million from the Akoka branch of the bank to the headquarters on Ajose Adeogun Street, Victoria Island, in a bullion van but they conspired and escaped with the money.

The suspects were alleged to have diverted the money to a hideout in Ajah where they reportedly abandoned the bullion van.

A bank manager (names withheld) who allegedly knew about the robbery has been arrested by detectives and is helping to unmask those behind the robbery.

Also arrested is the cash officer, Mr. Onyekpe and one of the policemen who allegedly took part in the robbery.

They are currently being interrogated at the state CID, Panti, Yaba, Lagos.

A source at CID, Panti confided in P.M.News that the operation was masterminded by a disgruntled top official of the bank.

“Look, my brother, it is an inside job and we are determined to get to the root of the robbery in a short time,” the detective told P.M.News. P.M.News gathered that the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, has mandated detectives at Panti to fish out the culprits immediately so as not to give the impression that the police had lost the battle to robbers.

Investigations revealed that the police were able to pick one of the suspects (cash officer) when he phoned the bank manager from a location on Victoria Island that the bullion van had been attacked by armed bandits in Ajah.

The police, it was learnt, traced the call to a location in Ajah and succeeded in arresting him. The attack is the first armed robbery attack on a bank this year.