LAGOS—Not many will
have the guts to confront robbers, but that was what one Viho Segun did when
robbers beat his wife to a pulp in their residence last week in Olodi-Apapa,
Lagos.
Narrating his
encounter with the dare devil robbers when Rapid Response Squad, RRS, of the
Lagos State Police Command paraded the arrested robbers, he said after
dispossessing him of his documents, phones and N15,000 at gunpoint, he was led
into his flat with intention to collect more valuables from his family. He said
at his flat, the suspect, Bashir Wasiu, 22, threatened to kill him in the
presence of his children and wife if they fail to produce more valuables. When
the wife refused to surrender what they wanted, Bashir smashed Viho’s head with
a gun butt and beat the wife to a pulp. Explaining what happened, Viho said:
“When he started beating my wife, I summoned courage to engage him.
As soon as
we started fighting, his colleague took to his heels. “He too tried to run, but
I held him, called out to neighbours, seized his gun and just in the nick of
time, RRS officers on patrol arrived and they arrested him.”
Robber’s tale
According to the suspect, “we have been monitoring Viho. We know he goes to
work early in his car and we decided to ambush him. We were three, Michael and
I followed him into his flat to collect more money, while Joseph was monitoring
the situation outside. “The three of us met at a point near boundary in
Ajegunle. That is where we plan our operations. We operate early in the morning
and late evening.”
While parading the suspect, Bashir Wasiu, 22, from Oyo State
and Tunde Adedeji, 23, from Abeokuta, Ogun State, also at Ikotun, a suburb of
Lagos, Commander RRS, Superintendent Tunde Disu, said several items, including
a gun, jewelleries, a laptop and 18 mobile phones were recovered from them.
Disu disclosed that Adedeji and his 10-man robbery team invaded Muslim and
Omotayo Streets, where they robbed all the occupants of the three buildings.
Over 25 victims narrated their ordeals in the hands of the gang, when they besieged
RRS Headquarters in Alausa after reports reached them that RRS officials have
arrested one of the robbery suspects.
Most of the victims sustained several
machete cuts to the head and body. They were conveyed to Alausa in three buses
and, one after the other, identified the suspect and also collected their
belongings from among the things recovered from the backpack of the suspect. On
how they planned the Muslim and Omotayo operations, Adedeji narrated: “At about
12 midnight on that fateful day, Sadiq, Sule, Ijoba, myself and six others,
whose names I don’t know, met and discussed about the robbery. “I was invited
by Sadiq. We met at Ikotun Egbe. We discussed the plan and at around 2a.m., we
converged at Ikotun Roundabout.
“The arms we used for the operation were
cutlasses, wood and sticks. None of us had a gun. We used legs to break doors
and took phones, jewelleries and laptops from our victims. ‘We have a ready
buyer’ “All the recovered items in my hand were from the victims. Sule and I
were coming from the operation around 4a.m. when a local security man
intercepted us.
“He collected Sule’s bag. We ran away just as he was opening
the bag. I was later arrested by RRS officials on patrol after seeing the
contents of my bag. “This is my second operation with the team. In June, we
also robbed another house in Ikotun. We also took from them phones and money.
“We sell our loot to one guy called Tablet. Sule would call him on phone after
the operation and we meet him at Olugbede in Egbeda area.”
While Bashir Wasiu
was transferred to Special Anti-Robbery Squad, RRS, Ikeja, Adedeji was
transferred to Ikotun Police Station along with the recovered items for further
investigation. Police Public Relations Officer, Dolapo Badmus, who confirmed
the arrest, said police will not rest in going after armed robbers and other
criminals.
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