Detectives at the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FEDSARS) on Adeniyi Adele Road, Lagos are holding in custody an armed robbery suspect, Monday Osakwe, for allegedly pouring acid on his former girlfriend and carrying out armed robberies.
Police sources said Osakwe, 34, will be charged to the court with “attack and inflicting body harm on another person.”
He and members of his gang were on the wanted list of FEDSARS, and he in particular was monitored from March this year before his arrest on June 23 following “a confession by a member of his gang who had been with us since January this year,” the police explained.
The suspect who gave out Osakwe told the police that the gang carried out a series of robbery operations in different parts of Lagos State.
The whistle was blown on their activities after an attempted bank robbery at Trade Fair Complex, Lagos in February.
“Though they did not succeed, we decided to investigate the operation. Eventually, we arrested one member of the gang of eight, called Oyinyechukwu Amadi.
“It was Oyinyechukwu that exposed Osakwe and we went after him and not the innocent lady,” the police source said.
The girl, who was attacked with acid on June 22, is critically ill at an undisclosed hospital in Lagos.
She has a slim chance of survival, according to the police, who insisted that she was not attacked because she provided information that led to the arrest of Osakwe.
Police gave the name of the victim as Veronica Mbakwe, a native of Ngwa, Abia State.
Police said she and Osakwe “have been living in the same apartment as lovers for over five years now. Neighbours said they were planning their formal marriage ceremony in December.”
