From John Adams, Minna
The Niger state police command has arrested five suspected armed robbers, three males and two females for robbing a retired Permanent Secretary and his wife also a serving Permanent Secretary at gun point.
The robbers were said to have gained entrance into the victims house located at old airport quarters in Minna, the state capital through the back door at about 9:00pm on Wednesday when the permanent secretary was watching champions league match in his sitting room.
Five of the robbers (all men) who invaded the house, held the entire family hostage. While the permanent secretary and his wife were marched to their bedroom, the children were locked up in a toilet before ran searching the house for money and other valuables.
It was gathered that N1.2million was collected from the permanent secretary and his wife, including phones and Jewries worth thousands of naira.
While the operation lasted, the robbers were said to be in constant communication with someone whom they (robbers) were calling Boss, and who was giving them directive on where to search in the house.
After a successful operation, luck however ran out of the robbers when they were accosted in a supermarket by local vigilantes who raised an alarm when their behaviors became suspicious and in the process, two of the robbers escaped while three were arrested by the police.
The two females among the robbers were however picked up by the police from a hotel were they were lodged by their suspected armed robbers boyfriends.
Apart from phones and Jewries, N50,000 cash was recovered from one of the girls who heed the money in her paint.
Although the Police Public Relation Officer (PPRO) ASP Wasiu Abiodun could not be reached to confirm the story as he could not respond to several calls put across to him, the Permission Secretary who was in Tudun Wada police station to see the suspects for himself said the family was still in trauma over the incident.
