In the course of its mission to combat prevailing criminal activities, the Directorate of Judicial Police dismantled, 48 hours after the incident, a network of criminals responsible for a night-time burglary followed by the murder of a security guard in a residence in the BCEAO Central Recreational Area.
During the night of September 8th to 9th, 2023, four (4) individuals entered a residence in the BCEAO Central Recreational Area to execute a carefully planned theft.
Indeed, one of them had previously worked in the said residence as a cleaning staff member but was dismissed following a theft involving a mobile phone. Familiar with the house layout, he knew that there was a safe in the main bedroom and enlisted the help of three (3) other individuals to carry out their nefarious act.
Once on the premises, around 2 a.m., the three (3) of them climbed the wall to gain entry into the house, while the fourth individual remained outside to keep watch. They found the security guard asleep and proceeded to tie him up with a rope before strangling him. Subsequently, they forcibly entered the bedroom and stole the safe, which contained a sum of ten thousand euros (€10,000), a BERETTA semi-automatic pistol, its magazine, and ammunition.
Seized loot… 48 hours after the commission of the crime, investigations led to the apprehension of three (3) of the four (4) suspects, with the fourth suspect, who had been on the run, being located on September 15th, 2023.
Upon the immediate completion of their crime, these criminals exchanged a significant portion of the foreign currencies into CFA francs, which they divided among themselves.
Found in their possession were the aforementioned semi-automatic pistol, its magazine, fifty-six (56) 9mm short ammunition rounds, a sum of one million five hundred and forty-five thousand (1,545,000) CFA francs, and an additional four hundred euros (€400) in two-hundred euro bills.
