FCT police arrest 11 armed robbery, one-chance suspects; recover 38 phones, pistols

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command has arrested 11 suspects for armed robbery, “one-chance” robbery, and kidnapping, recovering three locally made pistols, 38 mobile phones, and other exhibits.

The Commissioner of Police, FCT Command, CP Ahmed Muhammed Sanusi, disclosed this on Tuesday during a press briefing at the Command Headquarters in Abuja.

Sanusi said operatives have intensified covert and overt operations across the territory to sustain peace and security.

He said on 17th September, 2026, operatives acting on credible intelligence tracked and arrested two wanted armed robbery suspects, Jamilu Abdulsalam and Ibrahim Isa Sani, along the AYA-Nyanya Expressway.

“The syndicate operates across Abuja and parts of Nasarawa, Niger and Kogi States. They carefully select targets, study their movements before attacking and robbing them at gunpoint,” the CP said.

He said the suspects were arrested shortly after a robbery operation while trying to escape to their hideout in Nasarawa State.

Items recovered from them include three locally made pistols, three live cartridges, four knives, 17 mobile phones, two cutlasses, and one POS machine.

In a second case, the command arrested Chibuike Odeh of Daki-Biyu, Jabi, over an armed robbery reported on 18th October.

The CP said Odeh, wearing a face mask, attacked a woman returning from work on 26th September, dispossessed her of her handbag containing an iPhone, and withdrew all the money from her accounts using her phone and ATM card.

A search of his residence led to the recovery of a bag, a sharp knife, an iron rod, a face mask, a power bank, and a voter card.

In the third operation, the command busted an eight-man one-chance syndicate that robbed the wife of a police officer who had boarded a taxi from AYA Roundabout on 7th August.

The suspects—Yunusa Sani, Ismail Mohammed, Abubakar Usman, Haruna Musa, Abdulrazaq Mohammed, Isah Abdulrahman, Isa Abdullahi, and Aliyu Shuaibu—dispossessed her of her phone and emptied her bank account.

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“With the aid of digital reconstructive technology, we deconstructed the entire operation, traced all electronic transactions and arrested the suspects,” Sanusi said.

He stated that 21 mobile phones and three laptops, including the victim’s, were recovered, adding that one of the suspects, Haruna Musa, specialises in altering IMEI numbers of stolen phones to evade detection.

The CP said the receivers of the stolen properties have also been identified, and all suspects will be charged in court upon the conclusion of investigations.

He urged residents to remain security-conscious and report suspicious activities to the nearest police station or through the command’s emergency lines: 08032003913 and 08061581938.