Mallam
Shanjijiri, alleged to be one of the most notorious criminals in the state who
publicly announced his retirement from his illicit business at the palace of
Sarkin Bauchi, in Rijau, confessed to have been kingpin for over 30 years.
He disclosed
that he had stopped going out for operation
eight years ago due to age,
but was providing his children intelligence and training.
but was providing his children intelligence and training.
According to
him, he began his criminal act when he was barely 10- year- old, stealing
within neighborhood and gradually grew to stealing goats and cattle before
engaging in a full blown robbery.
Mallam
Shanjijiri said he had been arrested and sent to prison 11 times but regained
his freedom. He said his area of operation includes Niger, Kebbi and Sokoto
states.
He told the
gathering, which included the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Rijau,
head of vigilance group and other security agencies that he carried out over
300 operations, an average of three operations in a month.
He stated
further that he and members of his gang which included his children used to
make between N2million to N3million in every successful operation. According to
him, the proceeds were usually shared into four places.
Shanjijiri,
who spoke in Hausa said: “When we robbed and the operation is successful, we
would settle the security, we would keep some for court cases; we also settled
our herbalist who prepared charms for
our us.
“The
remaining proceeds we used to take care of ourselves and I had been doing this
for the past 30 years. Although, I have been arrested, charged to court and
sent to prison 11 times, I still regained my freedom”.
He confessed
that he and his gang had been responsible for a number of high profile robbery,
kidnapping and cattle rustling in Niger, Kebbi and Sokoto states. He said his
gang never killed any victim in
their operations. He noted that nobody
forced them into repentance.
“I want God
and all those we have robbed in the past to forgive us as we will never
contemplate doing such again in this life. I want to make it clear that nobody
forced or threatened us to take this step of repentance:We did it of our own
volition because it doesn’t pay,” he concluded.
In a related
development, two brothers, Elijah Okpara and Prince Okpara were at the weekend
arrested by men of the Ondo State Police Command over alleged roles in robbery
incidents in the state.
The suspects
who were arrested at Abusoro in Ijoka area of Akure are currently being
interrogated by the police.
One of the
suspects, Elijah said he and his brother were into burglary and robbery, having
lost their jobs due to the current economic hardship in the country.
He said he
and his sibling had not killed any of their victims as they only broke into
shops and stole goods .
Parading the
suspects, the state Police Commissioner, Mrs. Hilda Harrison said the
police recovered from the suspects a
single-barrel gun.
She said:
“While our Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) opratives were on patrol at
Abusoro community, some boys whose movements were suspicious within the
community were arrested by combined efforts of policemen and youths of the
area.
“ Elijah was
arrested with a black bag, containing a locally-made gun, while the other two
boys escaped. Investigation is on with a
view to arresting the remaining suspects.”
It was
gathered that after Elijah had been arrested, his brother, Prince too was later
arrested by the police in Elijah’s house .
Elijah said
he was introduced into robbery by one of
his friends, called Kenny.
All the “born again” criminals swore by either the Holy Quran the Holy Bible according to their faith, at the palace, promising never never to return to crime again while begging for forgiveness from their victims.
Speaking at
the event, the chairman of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of
Nigeria, Rijau branch, Mallam Adamu Shanbo, said the repentance by the criminals was a welcome
development, adding that the people of Niger,Kebbi and Sokoto could now sleep
with both eyes closed.
“This is a welcome
development to our people as it would reduce the menace of stealing, armed
robbery and kidnapping of innocent people for ransom”.
Confirming
the story to our Correspondent in Minna, the Police Public Relation Officer
(PPRO), Niger State Command, Bala Elkana, Deputy Superintendent said these
“born again” criminals are among the over 5,000 that have renounced their
criminal activities across the 25 local government areas of the state.
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