Police Arrest 8 Suspected Robbers, Internet Fraudsters in Gombe

Police operatives in Gombe State have arrested eight suspected members of a criminal syndicate allegedly involved in armed robbery and internet fraud across several communities in the state.

The Command’s spokesperson, Buhari Abdullahi, disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday in Gombe.

According to him, the suspects were arrested following a complaint lodged on June 7 by two residents, Hassan Muhammad and Jibril Hassan, who reported that armed men wielding cutlasses invaded their homes and stole their mobile phones.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspects allegedly used information stored on the stolen phones to gain unauthorised access to the victims’ bank accounts.

Abdullahi said the syndicate fraudulently withdrew N296,790 from one victim’s GTBank account and also obtained a quick loan of N205,205, which was subsequently withdrawn.

He explained that intelligence-led operations and technical analysis traced one of the fraudulent transactions to a Moniepoint account, leading to the arrest of the prime suspect, a Computer Science student of the Federal Polytechnic, Kaltungo, whose identity was withheld.

According to the police, the suspect confessed to using information obtained from the stolen phones to access victims’ bank accounts and carry out fraudulent transactions.

His confession subsequently led to the arrest of seven other suspected members of the syndicate.

Further investigations revealed that the group allegedly carried out more than 13 similar operations in Wuro Birji, Riyal, Bomala and Jauro Jatau communities in Gombe State.

The police said investigations are ongoing, while efforts have been intensified to apprehend other fleeing members of the syndicate.

The command advised residents to remain vigilant, safeguard their personal information and digital devices, and promptly report suspicious activities to security agencies.