A 29-year-old cleaner at Diamond bank, Nyanya branch, Peter Oko has confessed to stealing N5.675million from the bank vault while on duty.
He disclosed during investigations at the Nasarrawa State Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department in Lafia, that acessing the money was easy since he had knowledge of where the vault keys were usually kept.
Peter revealed that he carried out the operation alone after which he hid the money in a biscuit carton and took it home at the close of work.
“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.”
“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 pleaded for leniency and blamed the economic hardship for engaging in a criminal act.
According to him, he had never been involved in such an act but was pushed by greed and the need to be able to meet up with his financial expectations.
In his words, “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 matter which was reported to the police in October 2016 has been under investigation, after the case was transferred from Karu Divisional police headquarters to the SCIID.
The police stated that the money has been recovered from the suspect and he will be charged to court accordingly.
