Siblings arrested for stealing N43m from brother-in-law

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested four brothers for allegedly stealing N43m from their brother-in-law, Umeagudosi Nnama, in Ikeja area of the state.

According to the police, the suspects, Obinna Okezie, Mike Okezie, Chibuzor Okezie and Matthew Okezie connived with one Okechukwu Uzoma, who is an employee of the victim, to rob him of the money.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Nnama owns a bureau de change at the Murtala Muhammed Airport. The suspects were said to be employees of the victim as well.

According to sources, the suspects on May 1,2013, went to the victim’s office and deceived the employee on duty, Desmond Ameife, into giving them the money on the pretext of giving it to a customer.

A police source said, “Nnama just lost his wife and he has not even buried her yet. The brothers conspired among themselves to rob Nnama, who is also their boss.

“Nnama’s company, PNnama Enterprise serves as a middleman between Chinese manufacturers and Nigerian traders. The company helps traders to send money to Chinese manufacturers. On May 1, the brothers told Ameife to give them $200,000 and N11m (N43m) saying they wanted to give the money to a customer.

“The suspects then took the money and ran away.”

It was learnt that the suspects were traced to Satellite area of FESTAC after the matter was reported at Area E Command.

Our correspondent learnt that the Area Commander, Damian Okoro, sent a team of detectives to the scene and arrested the suspects who were sharing their loot at the time.

“On May 3, just two days after the robbery, the suspects were arrested at an apartment of one of their relatives where they were sharing the money. The whole money was fully recovered, “he said.

A police source told our correspondent that the brothers had allegedly attempted to steal N20m from the victim prior to the robbery.

“Nnama said in his statement that the brothers had told him some days before the robbery that their mother had been kidnapped and they needed N20m to pay ransom. This shows that the brothers had been conspiring for quite some time,” he said.

The spokesperson for the state police command, Ngozi Braide, said she had  no information on the case.