Dismissed police officer arrested for vandalism, theft in Delta

The operative of the Delta State Community Vigilante have arrested a dismissed police officer for vandalising government’s property in the state.

It was gathered that the dismissed police officer, an indigene of Agbor, the headquarters of Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State, was arrested on Monday after he broke into a resident’s apartment and attempted to make away with some valuables, including phones.

It was learnt that the 45-year-old suspect was notorious for breaking into government schools in the community to steal metals and valuables which he sells as scraps.

Confessing to the crime before newsmen in Agbor on Tuesday, the suspect, who gave his name as Benedict Sunday, said he was dismissed from the police force in 2018.

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Sunday confessed that he engaged in the crime by using a fake police identity card, bearing a Warrant ID card and the rank of an Inspector, to arrest commercial motorcyclists without plate numbers at College Junction axis every evening, adding that he demanded his victims to pay him or have their motorcycle seized.

The suspect claimed that he regret indulging in such criminal activities, saying he was into crime as a result of hunger.

Speaking to newsmen, the chairman of the vigilante group, Mr Aliemeke Onyekachukwu, said the suspect had been terrorising the community and environs.

Onyekachukwu stated that they had received several complaints about him, adding that he had always been on the run.

“We have been trailing him for long and today God has delivered him into our hands. The phone he stole was recovered from the bush path he hid the phone and other items he stole,” he said.

He stated that the suspect would be handed over to the police in Agbor division for further investigation.

The Star