At an age when his mates are still in school, 16-year-old Master Ifeanyi Onwe is already a specialist in bank robbery. But, as the saying goes, it’s everyday for the thief and one day for the house owner.
And so it was that Onwe’s cup became full and he fell into the hands of the police. Onwe, according to the Anambra State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Emeka Chukwuemeka, used beautiful girls to track people that withdrew large sums of money from the banks.

In his confession, the teenage robbery specialist said that he used to plant young girls in banks in the commercial city of Onitsha to give members of his gang information concerning withdrawals in the banks.

“I was a student in a secondary school in Onitsha before I dropped out in JSS 1 because my parents could not fund my education. Thereafter, I met a friend who introduced me into this deal. We have carried out many robbery operations in Onitsha and its environs,” Onwe said.

Onwe was one of the 17 suspected armed robbers recently arrested by the Anambra State Police Command. Recoveries made in the course of their arrest, according to PPRO Chukwuemeka, include two pump action guns, three AK 47 riffles,four locally made pistols, some quantity of ammunition, a television set and a teddy which was used for concealing guns.

However, one of the suspectsidentified as Ebuka said he was arrested by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) when he went to visit a friend.

“I went to visit my friend without knowing that he was being wanted by the police for armed robbery. As I was still there, SARS men broke into the house and arrested all of us. I don’t really know what I did,” Ebuka said.

Speaking with journalists at SARS office in Awkuzu, Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State, PPRO Chukwuemeka said that the 17 suspects were arrested in various parts of the state for various offences, including bank robbery.

He said that some of the suspects were in the habit of blocking major roads in Nawfia, Awgbu, Ufuma and Abba, among other areas, where they robbed people.

He further alleged that some of the suspects were also involved in the killing of a 55-year-old man in Awgbu and another woman at Nanka last week, as well as in the raping of girls in various parts of the state.

Chukwuemeka said: “To the ordinary eye, the TV set and the teddy they were carrying were just what they were meant to be, but for this gang, what they do is to open the TV set and rip open the teddy’s tommy, conceal pistols and ammunition in them and when they entered any vehicle, nobody would know they had guns until they began operation.

“They invented this style to escape from the police and other security agencies, but our men were able to beat them in their own game.”

Meanwhile, a member of a three-man armed robbery gang met his waterloo on Friday during a gun battle between members of his gang and the police at Ngborokpo village in Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra State in Nigeria’s South-East. Three other members of the gang sustained various degrees of injury during the gun battle.

•Photo shows Onwe and some other suspects.