•Adewumi Bolaji Gabriel
A 28-year-old staff of a commercial bank, Adewumi Bolaji Gabriel, has been apprehended by the Katsina State Police Command for conspiring with a friend, now at large, to steal N18 million belonging to the bank customers.
ASP Abubakar Sadiq Aliyu, the State Police Public Relations Officer, disclosed this while parading the bank staff and other suspects at the Command’s headquarters in Katsina yesterday.
Aliyu said the suspect was arrested
following the receipt of a complaint from one Okojie Hubert Erayomon, an Assistant Head of Operation at the Daura Branch of the bank, on a suspected case of fraud, reports Daily Independent.
According to him, the suspect criminally conspired with a friend, one David Mesioye, a staff member of the Bank’s Kafur Branch, now at large, to steal the said sum from their customers’ bank account.
“The suspect, who is the Head of ATM operations, was responsible for managing the bank’s ATM operations at the branch, conspired with his friend using their expertise of the bank’s operations to carry out the theft, which was discovered during an audit conducted.
“In the course of the investigation, the suspect confessed to the commission of the offense as the following exhibits which include, the sum of ₦10,180,000.00k from his different bank accounts, a Physical cash of ₦366,900.00k and other valuables were recovered”.
He maintained that the suspect will be charged to court upon completion of the investigation.
In a related development, on November 25, 2024, at about 1130 hrs, the Command succeeded in arresting one Bishir Abdullahi, age 37, of Helele quarters, Sokoto state, a suspected notorious fraudster who specializes in swapping ATM cards of unsuspecting members of the public at ATM points.
According to the police image maker, the suspect was arrested by Inspector Aliyu Muhammad, a police officer on duty at the Tudun Katsira quarters in the Katsina metropolis.
He was arrested after the police officer on duty became suspicious of his activities around the ATM machine. Upon instant search, fourteen suspected stolen ATM cards of different banks were found in his possession.
The state PPRO said preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect had been using the stolen ATM cards to withdraw huge sums of money from his victims’ accounts.
Aliyu said the suspect had swapped the ATM cards of six unsuspecting individuals at different banks withdrawing a total sum of over N2.7 million from the victims bank accounts.
He maintained that the suspect will be charged to court upon completion of the investigation.
