Justice Olubunmi Oyewole convicted the policemen; Bestman Denner, Musa Mohammed ,Peter Enidiok, Godwin Williams and Emmanuel Ajogbor on charges of conspiracy and robbery.
He said the sentence would run concurrently, beginning from 3 March, 2005 when they were first remanded in prison custody.
Delivering judgment in the five year long case, Justice Oyewole said: “I hold that there is sufficient evidence
to conspiracy as to commit robbery as charged. I hereby convict each of them accordingly.’
The judge said the fact that the defendants were policemen was an “aggravating factor.”
Oyewole said: “I have duly considered the allocutus. However, the defendants are policemen trained to protect the public and not otherwise. This in itself is an aggravating factor.
“The defendants took advantage of their being members of the Nigeria Police Force to rob citizens.
“Using the police uniform to rob is a bad signal to the public because it will erode’s people’s confidence on the police.
“The image of the police should not be dented to the extent that members of the public will begin to see police checkpoints as armed robbers’ locations,” he said.
The policemen were charged to court for robbing the lorry which was loaded with George and Lace materials.
The prosecutor, Mrs Patience Alu, said the incident took place around 9 p.m on 17 November, 2002 along the Ikorodu-Ijebu Ode Expressway, when the lorry was en route to Benin with the goods.
Alu claimed the defendants had mounted a road block on the road and ordered the driver of the lorry and his assistant to alight.
According to her, the defendants forcefully took the vehicle’s keys and drove it away to an undisclosed location.
She said the occupants of the vehicle, Messrs Ogundare Sadiru and Peter Akpovile, later went to report the matter at Igbogbo Police Station in Ikorodu.
According to her, the lorry was eventually found at Acme Road, Ikeja, Lagos without any of the textile materials.
The prosecutor said some of the goods were found in one of the houses of the defendants during a search by the police.
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