Man, wife arrested for stealing $50,000 from employer

City Voice Published: March 10, 2014

The Special Fraud Unit has arrested one Festus Chukwuemeka, an employer of a Bureau de Change for stealing the sum of $50,000 from his employer. The police also arrested Festus’ wife, Blessing in connection with the alleged theft.
A petition dated January 27, 2014 to the Commissioner of Police, SFU alleged that the suspect was sent to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in company of three other staff by his employer, to collect the total sum of $50,000 for foreign exchange business.
However ,the suspect allegedly absconded with the money and switched off all his phones.
The police said the suspect replaced his old phone number with a new one and was only in contact with his wife, one Blessing Chukwuemeka and his girlfriend, one Susan Ehwefan.
The police was however able to track down the fleeing suspect at the Republic of Benin, where he was hiding.
A statement by the SFU reads: “The suspect, Festus Chukwuemeka is a 32-year-old employee of a Bureau de Change, from Umuoma Okpofe in Ezinihite Mbaise, Imo State. A mechanical engineering graduate of Abia State University, he stated that he was employed as a driver to the petitioner and was sent with the other staff to collect $50,000 from CBN and as soon as he collected the money, he bolted away to Cotonou with the said sum and switched off all his phones.
The suspect, who is married with four children, alerted his wife, Blessing to run away with their four children which she immediately complied with. The suspect was arrested at Benin Republic with the assistance of Benin Republic Police authorities while he was trying to purchase a Hiace Bus.
“He confessed to the alleged crime and stated that the sum of $17,000 was with his wife at a village after Idiroko. The wife, Blessing Chukwuemeka, a 26-year-old petty trader with no formal education was also arrested. She is a native of Ehime Mbano, Imo State. She admitted that the husband called her on 21st January, 2014 and told her to run away from the house to avoid police arrest because he had stolen a huge sum of money from his employer.
“She further admitted that the money was kept under her custody and that the husband came from time to time to collect from her. She was arrested at Idiroko in a friend’s house where she was hiding. The sum of $15,000; 2,620,000.00 CFA and N76,500.00 was recovered from her”.