The police in Nasarawa State have arrested a dismissed police constable for allegedly impersonating as an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and defrauding people.
Parading the suspect on Thursday in Lafia, the Commissioner of Police, Mr Musa Daura, said the suspect was arrested on Oct. 31, while wearing a senior police officer’s uniform.
Daura said that the suspect defrauded one Pastor Emeka Joseph of the Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Movement along Makurdi Road in Lafia.
The police chief said that the suspect comes from Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue and was dismissed from the service on June 17.
He said that the suspect had confessed to the crime, but claimed that he bought the uniform in Benue with the aim of using it to gain access to the authorities to push for his reinstatement.
Also paraded alongside the impersonator were 10 robbery suspects arrested in October.
Daura said that his men in collaboration with the military acting on a tip-off smashed a gang of armed robbers along Keffi-Gitata Road, where they were robbing motorists of their valuables.
He explained that a military team “Operation Flush” had intercepted a Volkswagen Golf car with Registration Number: Kano BJ 574 NSR, whose occupants were suspected to be members of the gang.
The police commissioner said that as they were searching the vehicle, the driver and the other occupants fled into the bush.
Daura said that following a thorough search by officers of “Operation Flush”, five AK 47 riffles and some ammunition were found in the bonnet of the car.
He said that further investigation led to the arrest of the gang members in their hideout in Keana Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.
In another robbery case in Assakio near Lafia on Nov. 2, Daura said that the police responded to a distress call from Alugani Village at about 1 a.m., where a 27-year-old man was arrested with a locally made pistol.
He said that investigation was on to ascertain whether the suspect acted alone or belonged to a gang.
Daura said all the suspects would soon be charged to court.