Nigerian UN worker arrested for robbing 4 banks in the US

isaac dachen

April 19, 2017 9:13 AM

A Nigerian journalist who works with the United Nations in the US has been arrested for allegedly robbing four banks.

The arrest of Abdullahi Shuaibu has dented his image

A 53-year-old Nigerian journalist who is also an employee of the United Nations,

Daily Mail reports that Shuaibu, was arrested by the New York Police Department (NYPD)on Monday, April 17, 2017, and charged with two counts of robbery and two counts of attempted robbery for the crimes committed during a two-month spree on the four banks located in Manhattan, all during lunch hour.

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All four banks, it was gathered, are within walking distance of his office at the Foreign Press Center inside the US Mission to the United Nations, just across the street from the UN building.

Shuaibu who works as a journalist for the News Agency of Nigeria, the police said, was nabbed after a retired police officer who works as a guard at the US Permanent Mission to the UN, recognized him from a surveillance image previously released by the NYPD.

In the first incident, Shuaibu was said to have walked into a Santander Bank on Madison Avenue near E. 43rd Street on February 27, 2017, and told the teller he had a gun. The bank employee complied and handed Shuaibu an unknown sum of money.

He allegedly robbed two more banks during the month of March, first striking at a Bank of America on Third Avenue near E. 47th Street.

He was successful in robbing another Santander Bank on Third Avenue and E. 63rd Street yet again.

Abdullahi Shuaibu during his arrest

Photo Credit: Daily Mail

During the most recent incident that got Shuaibu arrested, he had walked into an HSBC on Third Avenue and E. 40th Street around 2:30 pm and passed a note demanding cash to the teller. The teller did not read the note and asked Shuaibu for identification.

He then instructed the employee to read the note, keeping his hand in his jacket pocket while simulating a gun, the police said.

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He was later in the day when he returned to the UN office.

One of Shuaibu’s colleagues at the Foreign Press Center said they are all in shock at the allegations as he is seen as a very calm man and a hard worker.

Shuaibu is listed as a communication specialist at the UN while also working for the Panapress News Agency out of Nigeria.

isaac dachen