Nigeria | Two Bank Employees Charged as Accomplices in Rash of Bank Robberies

By: Victor Ulasi, Nigeria

Two bank employees have been arrested after being accused of being members of a gang involved in a series of bank robberies. The “gang” is believed to consist of at least 25-armed and extremely dangerous members.

The pair are being associated with two robberies at the banks of Bank PHB and Guaranty Trust Bank, Nigeria. The incidents occurred on February 25, 2010 at locations in Ilesa in Osun state. The haul was estimated at over one million naira, and occurred less than 30 minutes apart from each other.

Bank robbery is common in Nigeria, predominantly in southern Nigerian. The armed robbers have been capable of eluding police pursuit. During the robberies random gunfire provides for the necessary cover for the bandits as, the police are reluctant to enter the locations while under heavy gun fire to avoid the risk of loss of life to civilians in the area.

ATM Fraud is also on the rise in Nigeria. Bank customers are constantly complaining over the loss of money via ATM transactions which are usually untraceable.

Two bank employees of Bank PHB, Ilesa branch in Osun State have been arrested by the police for allegedly aiding and abetting this “gang”. The two suspects are accused of receiving “stolen monies” following two bank robberies that occurred February, this year.

The two bank employees charged in those incidents, Agbabiaka Tunde, and Taiwo Onafowora, were employed as an operation manager and cash officer of bank PHB respectively. The alleged are thought to have received N1.3 million in cash in association to the ATM scams, and cash stolen from the banks vault during the robberies.

Police suspect the gang involved in this rash of robberies consists of approximately 25 individuals. On February 25, the gang allegedly besieged two banks, Bank PHB and Guaranty Trust Bank in Ilesa at about 11.30 am and carted away unspecified amount of money.

On Friday, Osun State Commissioner of Police Mr. Solomon Olusegun, held a news conference in Osogbo following the apprehension of the two bank employees, and states that the police gathered enough information to determine that the robberies were in fact “inside jobs” facilitated by the two suspects.

Posted by worldnews on March 13, 2010. Filed under International Criminal Justice,International News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.