Warri Correctional Centre: Officials Aid Death Row Inmates to Sneak Out, Commit Armed Robbery

Officials of the Warri Correctional Centre, Okere, have been discovered to be part of the deal that make way for death row inmates to sneak out of the facility and carry out armed robbery operations in neighboring Edo state. 

The discovery was made when operatives of the Nigerian Police stormed the facility to pick up some of the suspects. They however, met with fierce resistance as prison officials initially resisted producing the suspects.

According to sources, the convicted death row inmates were allowed to move out of the prison on Saturday, Friday, January 3, 2025, during which they robbed a victim of some of his valuable items, including N4m which was transfered from his account into a PalmPay account said to belong to one of the prisoner.

The victim decided to conduct a geo-analysis of the account which revealed the account location to be within the Udu axis of Delta State.

Following the discovery, the victim who initially reported the matter to the Edo State Police Command without no serious action being taken, decided to consult CSP Aliyu Shaba, the Divisional Police officer attached to Ekpan Police station.

The DPO, this medium learnt, went into prompt offensive by tracing the account owner, a lady, to Udu.

The lady was arrested and later confessed that it belonged to her boy friend whom she met online. The man, she added, told her he works for an offshore outfit, noting that he called early January to say he was expecting some payments but that he would need her to help open a new PalmPay because his phone fell into the river.

She did as was instructed only to have him send a lady to pick the ATM of the account from her a little later. She explained that upon receiving a N4m alert on January 4, and quickly informed the man who later in the day forwarded certain account numbers with instructions for her to transfer Six Hundred Thousand (N600, 000.00) Naira, One and a Half Million, (N1. 5m) Naira and One Million (N1) Naira respectively.

"I met him online and we started talking and one thing led to another, he started professing love and I accepted.

"He told me he works offshore and have so many staff under him. He called me early January and told me that his phone fell into the River but expecting to receive some money and asked me to help him open the bank account which I obliged. Later, he sent a lady to pick the ATM of the very account from me.

"On the 4th of January, I got alert of 4million and told him. Later that day, he sent account numbers to me with instruction to pay some 600k, some 1.5million some 1million etc." she confessed.

Following her confession, CSP Shaba decided to run further analysis on the receiving accounts which led him to Okere Correctional Centre.

Subsequently, he went to the centre alongside his team, including one of the arrested ladies who sighted one of the culprits. Notwithstanding, prison officials refused to release him.

It was discovered that the suspect is on a death row for his involvement in previous armed robbery offences. However, the police apprehend one of the suspects, another death row inmate, who confessed that he participated in the robbery