An Insider Told Us Arik Was Bringing In N40m, That Was Why We Planned To Rob Them- Suspect

The 30-year-old robbery suspect, James Peters, who was arrested by operatives of the Inspector General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team, IRT, last Monday, in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, after three members of his gang were shot dead by police, has disclosed that his gang was on a mission to rob Arik Airline of N40 million.

The suspect, who is a native of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, told Vanguard that his gang got information through an insider that the airline was bringing the money onboard one of its aircraft that would land at the Port Harcourt Air Force Base.

Peters explained that his elder brother, identified as Newman and the leader of the gang, brought the information to the gang, claiming that his brother then contacted the gang’s second-in-command known as Timi and two others, who he identified as Michael and Depreye. He said they met at a hotel in Port Harcourt last Sunday, where they planned the operation.


Peters noted that the gang agreed that Timi, Michael and Depreye, now deceased, would be the first to strike at the Air Force Base and dispossess the airline of the money while his elder brother, their driver and himself would provide back up. He said the gang had planned to escape into the creeks with the money through Nembe Waterside, where they had a waiting speed boat.

According to him, “we had concluded our plans and Timi, Michael and Depreye had all gone for the operation as planned. “I don’t know how the police intercepted them and they were killed in the process. But I was trailed to my house and arrested.”