•Belema Ibama
A father of four girls who allegedly lures young women through online dating sites to hotels where he sexually abuses them has been arrested by the Rivers State Police Command.
The suspect, Belema Ibama, 38, an ex-pupil of Seashell Model Primary School and native of Buguma, was alleged to have registered into the sites as Mr. Anderson, a British engineer working in an offshore oil rig, reports The Nation.
It was gathered that he lures his victims with relationship promise only to drug, rape and steal from them.
He was arrested after more than 20 of his victims across Rivers State filed different reports at the police station about a certain Mr/Engineer Anderson who allegedly raped them after inviting them over for a date.
Police investigation, it was gathered, revealed that the suspect had been in the business of drugging, raping and robbing women since 2019 and was even remanded in prison as an awaiting trial inmate for six months in 2021 only to be discharged as the case against him was quashed due to absence of witnesses.
It was gathered that the suspect was also arrested by the Delta State Police Command in 2020 for allegedly raping a woman through the same tactic. However, he jumped bail and fled to Port Harcourt, abandoning his Lexus SUV in Delta State.
After his return from prison in 2022, he went into a hiatus but resumed his life of crime in November 2023. From that time till his arrest on May 5, he had lured, drugged, raped and robbed more than 20 women, it was learnt.
Detectives who investigated the case told our correspondent that his victims recounted that once they arrived at the agreed location and had exchanged pleasantries, he would offer them a drink, and moments after drinking it, they would pass out.
They all woke up noticing their valuables were missing, and money withdrawn from their bank accounts.
One of the complainants narrated how she met him on Tinder, an online site on January 7, and they met for the first time on January 13 at Pacific Suites, a hotel along Abuloma Road.
She described how he offered her a drink that made her fuzzy after a few minutes of drinking it. She fell asleep and awoke to find that her iPhone valued at N180,000, her handbag containing N28,000, her ATM, and her ID card were all missing.
She proceeded to report the matter to the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Rivers State Command and a hunt for the suspect began. He was eventually arrested at 56 Okilton Road, Ada George, in May.
The suspect was found with pills suspected to be Tramadol and Rohypnol, 15 mobile phones, four female watches and two female handbags at the point of arrest.
He confessed to the police that he primarily operated on Bumble and Tinder apps with the usernames Engineer Val Anderson, Mr Anderson or Val.
He also revealed how he obtained the ATM pins of victims through a trickery he had perfected: he would order a drink or food while they were in the hotel and transfer money to the victims, asking them to pay using their ATM cards. As they punched in their pins on the POS machines, he would peek and memorise them.
He would then spike their drinks, and when they were unconscious, he would have carnal knowledge of them before robbing them of their phones, ATM cards and other valuables.
His next stop would be at an ATM where he would withdraw from their accounts, using the pin he had memorised.
He also confessed that he usually sold the stolen items on mobile stores.
Contacted for reaction, the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, said the suspect also took his victims to other hotels in Rivers and Akwa Ibom states.
He advised residents seeking relationships through dating apps to be cautious and avoid meeting strangers in places they don’t have control over certain situations.
The CP also admonished residents to be mindful of drinks and other edible things offered to them by strangers as people with criminal intentions would have laced them with drugs.
He warned all those involved in such heinous crimes to desist or they would face the wrath of the law, adding that there is no hiding place for criminals anywhere in the state.
