A
bank cleaner who stole N5.675 million from the bank has confessed
before the police how he carried out the operation all alone.
Peter Oko
The police has arrested a cleaner, Peter Oko who works with the New
Nyanya branch of Diamond Bank after he stole N5.675 million from the
bank vault.
Oko, 29 narrated how he took the keys to the vault, stole the money
and hid it in a carton, which he took home after the close of work. The
money was however recovered by the police, which said that the suspect
had been charged to court.
According to Punch, Oko while confessing at the Nasarawa State
Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department in Lafia said that he
carried out the theft alone, “As a cleaner, I knew where all the keys were kept.” he said.
“I single-handedly carried out the operation because I have
been working as a cleaner in the bank for the past 10 years and my eyes
had been on one of the keys to the vault, where the bank used to keep
all its money.
“As a cleaner, my attention was not only on the keys, but on
how I will carry out the operation successfully without being caught by
either the security or any staff of the bank.” he said.
The suspect said he stole the money without the knowledge of the
bank workers, adding that he had access to all the foreign currencies in
the bank as he knew where they were kept.
“As a cleaner, I knew where all the secret files were kept and
where the bank kept its keys where you can have access to dollars,
Nigerian currency and all other currencies.”
Oko blamed the economic situation for his action, stating that he had never been involved in a criminal act before now.
“The devil of economy recession pushed me into the crime; I
have never committed a criminal act before, luck ran out on me and I was
caught in the process,” he stated.
The state Commissioner of Police, Abubakar Bello, said the crime
was reported to the police in October, 2016, by the bank, adding that
the matter was then transferred from Karu Divisional Police Headquarters
to the SCIID for investigations.