By Habeeb Ibrahim
A shocking case of organized crime has been uncovered, revealing how inmates at Warri Correctional Centre are allegedly permitted by corrupt prison officials to leave custody, commit robberies, and return undetected.
The discovery followed the January 3, 2025, armed robbery of a young man in Benin City, Edo State, where criminals stole valuables and transferred ₦4 million from the victim’s account to a PalmPay wallet.
Despite initially reporting the incident to the Edo State Police Command, no progress was made. However, after hearing of CSP Aliyu Shaba’s breakthrough in solving the murder of Paulinus Okon in Otokutu, the victim sought help from the Ekpan Police Division in Delta State.
Security analyst and activist Isreal Joe, who has been following the case, revealed that the victim used geo-analysis to track the PalmPay account to the Udu area of Delta State, leading the police to arrest the account holder—a young woman who later confessed that the account belonged to her boyfriend.
“He told me he worked offshore and had many staff under him. In early January, he called to say his phone had fallen into a river and asked me to open a PalmPay account for him. Later, he sent a lady to collect the ATM card,” she stated.
According to her, on January 4, she received an alert of ₦4 million and was given instructions to distribute the money in various amounts, including ₦600,000, ₦1.5 million, and ₦1 million, to different accounts.
A forensic analysis of the transactions traced the funds back to inmates at Warri Correctional Centre, leading police to storm the facility for further investigation.
On arriving at the prison with some arrested suspects, police officers discovered that one of the prime suspects was an inmate. However, correctional officials reportedly refused to produce him, only presenting another inmate already on death row who was also involved in the crime.
Further investigations confirmed that the robbers were all serving inmates at Warri Correctional Centre but had been secretly allowed to leave prison, execute the robbery in Benin, and return to their cells afterward.
“This is beyond shocking,” Joe said. “These inmates are not escaping; they are being deliberately released by corrupt prison officials, allowed to rob, and then returned to their cells as if nothing happened.”
The revelations have raised serious concerns about the security lapses in Nigeria’s correctional facilities and the deep-rooted corruption within the system. Experts and security analysts have called for an overhaul of prison management and stricter monitoring of inmate movements.
Joe warned that this could be part of a larger criminal network operating across multiple prisons in Nigeria. “If this is happening in Warri, how many other prisons are running similar operations? How many innocent people have suffered because of this unchecked criminal enterprise?” he questioned.
Authorities are expected to intensify their investigations, with pressure mounting on the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) to take action against the officials involved. However, as of now, the NCoS has yet to release an official statement on the matter.
