POLICE NAB 3 SUSPECTED ROBBERS WHO BURGLED A CHURCH

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The Cross River State Police Command on Tuesday confirmed the arrest of three robbery suspects that attacked a new generation church along Goldie Street in the Calabar South axis of the metropolis.

The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hafiz Inuwa, said the three suspects were members of a six-man gang that had been terrorising the area lately.

The commissioner said that the robbery suspects, identified as Offiong Effiong, Jeremiah Affiah and Christian Donatus, were arrested on a tip-off.

He said, “The three suspects confessed to be members of a six-man robbery gang that have been terrorising residents of Calabar South for some time now.

“When they were interrogated, the suspects led our detectives to one of their victims, the General Overseer of Trinity Villa International at 101 Goldie Street, Calabar, who they robbed at the weekend.
“We recovered assorted phones, laptops and Ipads as well as an undisclosed amount of money, both in foreign and local currencies, which they collected from the church on the previous day before their arrest.”

The pastor of Trinity Villa International, Evang. Dominic Edet, while narrating his ordeal, said he was not certain if it was a robbery or an assassination attempt.He said the suspects told him that someone had paid them N10m to eliminate him. 

Edet said, “Personally, I am not too certain if it was really a robbery or an assassination attempt because they told me that someone paid them N10m to kill me. They took everything that was cash, both foreign and local currencies, but I believe the N10m was a ploy to get huge amount from me.
“We lost well over N1m, but that is not even my anger. I got angry because they had the temerity to go to the altar of God, which is sacred. They ransacked the altar in search of cash and other valuables.

“I got angry in the spirit and made a declaration that if I be a man of God, that He should expose them within 24 hours and that they should be arrested. That was exactly what happened because they attacked us at about 11:55pm on Friday and on Saturday at about 5:55am they were apprehended.

“I thank God for saving my life. It was simply a miracle that I am alive because the same gang, I learnt, killed a man while trying to rob him few hours after they left the church and I am also grateful that no live was lost in the church during the attack.”