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The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command has arrested eight suspected members of a one-chance robbery syndicate accused of dispossessing a woman, the wife of a police officer, of her mobile phone and transferring money from her bank accounts before abandoning her.
The suspects were arrested following an investigation involving digital tracking technology and the tracing of electronic transactions linked to the August 7, 2026 incident.
The police also recovered 21 mobile phones and three laptops, including the victim’s device, during the investigation.
The Commissioner of Police, FCT Command, Ahmed Muhammed Sanusi, disclosed this on Tuesday during a press briefing at the Command Headquarters in Abuja.
According to Sanusi, the victim boarded a commercial taxi at the AYA Roundabout in Abuja at about 5pm on August 7, unaware that she had entered a vehicle operated by members of a suspected one-chance syndicate.
The suspects allegedly seized her mobile phone and transferred money from her account into their own before collecting her other valuables and abandoning her.
Following the incident, the police commissioner said he directed the Command’s tracking unit to investigate the case.
“ With the aid of digital reconstructive technology, we deconstructed the entire criminal operation, traced all electronic transactions and the mobile phone of the victim till we apprehended eight (8) suspects,” Sanusi said.
The suspects were identified as Yunusa Sani, Ismail Mohammed, Abubakar Usman, Haruna Musa, Abdulrazaq Mohammed, Isah Abdulrahman, Isa Abdullahi and Aliyu Shuaibu.
Further investigations reportedly revealed that one of the suspects, Haruna Musa, specialised in electronically altering the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers of stolen phones before reselling them to evade detection.
The police said individuals suspected of receiving stolen properties had also been identified and traced.
The suspects remain in custody and are expected to be charged in court after the conclusion of investigations.
In a separate case, the FCT Police Command arrested a suspected armed robber, Chibuike Odeh, over an attack on a woman returning home from work in Abuja.
The police said the suspect, who resides in the Daki-Biyu area of Jabi District, was arrested following a complaint lodged at the Jabi Police Division on October 18.
According to Sanusi, the incident occurred on September 26, when the victim was allegedly accosted by a masked assailant who threatened her with a knife and forcefully took her handbag containing an iPhone and other valuables.
The suspect allegedly used the victim’s phone and ATM card to withdraw all the money in her bank accounts.
Following the complaint, a surveillance team was deployed to the suspect’s last known location, leading to his arrest at his residence in Daki-Biyu.
A search of the premises reportedly yielded a bag, a knife, a sharp iron, a black face mask, a power bank and a voter’s card.
The suspect and the recovered items remain in police custody pending the conclusion of investigations.
The police commissioner also disclosed the arrest of two suspected armed robbers, Jamilu Abdulsalam and Ibrahim Isa Sani, who were allegedly members of a robbery syndicate operating across Abuja and parts of Nasarawa, Niger and Kogi states.
Sanusi said the suspects were arrested along the AYA–Nyanya Expressway on September 17, 2026, at about 2pm, following intelligence reports.
According to him, the suspects were on the Command’s wanted list and had allegedly carried out a robbery shortly before their arrest while attempting to leave the FCT for their hideout in Nasarawa State.
The police said members of the syndicate selected their targets, studied their movements and routines, and attacked them at gunpoint to steal their valuables.
Items recovered from the suspects included three locally made pistols, three live cartridges, four knives, 17 mobile phones, two cutlasses and a point-of-sale machine.
The suspects are expected to be charged in court after investigations are concluded.
Sanusi urged residents to remain vigilant and report suspicious movements and activities to the nearest police station or through the Command’s emergency contact lines.
He reiterated that public cooperation was essential to tackling robbery, kidnapping and other criminal activities in the FCT.
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