Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Three policemen from the Bayelsa State Police Command and four operatives of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps have been arrested over an alleged theft of N40 million missing from a safe in Bayelsa Government House.
Also in police net is a Government House staff attached to the Maintenance Unit, who had do some routine maintenance work in the office on the fateful day. The suspects who are already being grilled by operatives of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) of the Bayelsa State Command were attached to the office of the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Bayelsa State Government House, Mrs. Ebizi Ndiomu-Brown. According to investigation, the alleged theft of the money, which occurred on Wednesday night, was discovered on Thursday morning as workers met the safe vandalised.
Sources at the Government House are baffled as to how those who allegedly stole the money had access to the safe because policemen were guarding the two entrances to the office of the deputy chief of staff where the money was kept. A reliable source at the Police Command said the State Commissioner of Police, Mr Uche Anozia who was infuriated over the development ordered for the immediate arrest of all the suspected policemen. Government House officials were said to have been shocked by the audacity with which the theft was carried out.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Bayelsa Command, Asinim Butswat confirmed the arrest of the suspects, adding however that the money missing was N3.5 million and not N40 million.