Police Arrest Leader Of Imo Bank Robbery At Father’s Funeral

The police in Imo State have reportedly apprehended the mastermind of a bank robbery which led to the killing of a bank customer in the state.Punch Metro had reported that some gunmen trailed the bank customer to a Zenith bank branch on Wetheral Road, Owerri, the state capital.

They reportedly carted away the money which the victim wanted to deposit in the bank and shot him dead.

The assailants reportedly injured three policemen attached to the bank, shooting indiscriminately as they fled the area. However, one of the gunmen was shot dead by a plain-clothes cop in the bank.


After six weeks of investigation, two suspects– Justice Ogbenna, aka JJ, and Okechukwu Onwuamaegbu– were on Friday arrested in Aba, Abia State by operatives of the Imo State Police Command.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Andrew Enwerem, told our correspondent on Sunday that policemen attached to the Special Anti-robbery Squad of the command arrested the suspected robbers at the Saint Francis Mortuary in Osisioma Aba, Abia State.

Enwerem disclosed that the suspects led the men and officers of the command to their hideout at Umuejea Nvosi in the Isiala Ngwa South Local Government Area of Abia State where two AK 47 rifles, seven magazines, and 175 live ammunition were recovered.

The police spokesperson said, “The two prime suspects who coordinated the Zenith Bank robbery in Owerri on February 23, have been arrested.

“We trailed them to Aba, where they were nabbed. They immediately led our men to their hideout at Umuejea Nvosi in the Isiala Ngwa South LGA, where exhibits like two AK-47 rifles, seven magazines, and 127 live ammunition were recovered.”

Enwerem confirmed that the suspects, who were cooling their heels at the state police command in Owerri, had made useful statements and were helping the police with information that could help in the arrest  of other fleeing members of the gang.

He disclosed that the police would charge them to court at the end of investigations.

A top police source told our correspondent that the leader of the gang, Ogbenna, was arrested on the day he planned to bury his late father.

He said, “We got information that he would bury his father on Friday and we trailed him to the mortuary. We laid siege to the morgue. Immediately he arrived with his family members and friends to carry the remains of his father home, we arrested him.”

The police source, who described the suspect as a notorious armed robber, claimed that he had jumped bail in Anambra State in 2016 in a similar case of armed robbery.