Though, their chests were flat which should convince doubting Thomases that the suspects were not women, some still insisted on seeing their private parts due to their looks.
But, behind these deceptive looks are more than meets the ordinary eye.
The hearts of both Omooba Oyewole and Lawal Kabir are fortified with cold
steel. They are suspected dare-devil robbers. If they have conscience, it must
be made of solid concrete.
One of the suspects, Lawal Kabir whose eyelids blink momentarily like a
doll in the old Kingsway Store claims to be a devout Muslim and considers only
Fridays and the Ramadan period as sacred days in the whole year when he thinks
he should not engage in armed robbery.
These days, especially Fridays, he said, he would go to the mosque to pray to God to forgive all his criminal tendencies only to continue his devilish acts thereafter. In fact, the suspect said he was arrested on Friday after observing the Jumat prayers.
These days, especially Fridays, he said, he would go to the mosque to pray to God to forgive all his criminal tendencies only to continue his devilish acts thereafter. In fact, the suspect said he was arrested on Friday after observing the Jumat prayers.
Given their looks, one needed no soothsayer to discern that the suspects
had carried out numerous deadly attacks on their victims even though they
admitted to have participated in no fewer than four successful robbery
operations.
According to them, they had made people cry in places like Osun,
Sawmill, Iyana-Agbala and other places when they unleashed terror on them.
Knowing their days of reckoning had finally come, the eight-man gang confessed
some of the crimes they had committed to Crime Alert.
Ayodele Olaitan, who wore a mask, one of the tools they use in their
nefarious activities shook his head in regret and said: “It was my friends that
pushed me into this. I joined the gang some-time ago and I have participated in
at least three robbery operations.
I am not the owner of the mask you see on me. It belongs to one of us
called pastor. He is dead now. I regret all my actions. I didn’t realize we
could be caught. But, now the game is up, “he said as he burst into tears.
Like other criminals, Lawal Kabir said he was pushed into the criminal
world as a result of an unsuccessful business venture. “I took to robbery when
my plumbing work was not booming.
Three years after my freedom as an apprentice, I tried all I could to
make both ends meet, but things did not work for me. I first stayed in Lagos
before I later came to Ibadan where I was introduced to a gang of armed
robbers. I have participated in four armed robbery attacks.
I went with them to Osun State, Ibadan, Sawmill and Iyana -Agbala. I was
arrested on Friday after I finished praying in the mosque. Somebody we call a
pastor, also a member of the gang called me without knowing the police had
already arrested him.
I don’t rob on Fridays and during Ramadan. I used those periods to pray
to God to forgive me my sins. I know what I was doing was wrong but it was
difficult for me to break away from it.”
Another member of the gang, Biola Alaba who wore a weave-on hairdo said
they were eight in number and that they were arrested at a drinking joint while
preparing to carry out a robbery operation at Bodija area of the city. He
denied ever killing any of their victims.
“How can I commit two sins at the same time. I cannot rob and kill at
the same time. It is unfair to rob someone of his belongings and kill him. We
don’t even rape our victims, he said.
As for Sunday Omooba from Ogbomoso who says he is a member of the Oodua
People’s Congress, OPC, he narrated how he took charge of the armoury for the
gang. “I helped them get bullets through one man. I just call the man any time
I need bullets for the gang.
I don’t rob with them. In fact, I did not know that they were using the
bullets to rob. I also supplied that pump action gun to them. I bought the gun
for N70,000 from a friend. If I knew that they would use the weapons for
robbery, I would not give them.”
The Investigating Police Officer in charge of the case alleged that
Omooba supplied the pump action gun and killed the owner of the gun so that he
could get the gun from him and did not give the money he promised to give him.
Other suspects who are car snatchers including those who bought the
stolen vehicles from them were also arrested in Kaduna and Kano. Two of the
suspects, Dolapo Olayinka and Yusuf Ibrahim, robber and accomplice
respectively; gave their own accounts. Olayinka said he only used his
commercial motorcycle to convey the robbers who dispossessed people of their
items. He recalled how they crossed a woman’s vehicle and took N20,000 from her
at gun point.
The owners of the stolen vehicles were at the police command to identify
their vehicles. All of them pleaded anonymity for fear of being attacked by
yet-to-be-identified members of the gang.
One of them said his car, a Toyota Camry, was snatched at gunpoint on
October 1, last year around 8pm and he reported at the Special Anti robbery
squad.
He specifically commended the efforts of one SP Sola Aremu, the O/C
SARS, Ogbomoso and his boys for going ahead to recover the car. He said: “I am
full of thanks to the police. I never thought I could recover my car again. The
SARS in Ogbomoso acted promptly. I have never seen police work like that.”
The State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mohammed Indabawa said, “sequel to
tip-offs about a criminal hideout at a mechanic village, Iyana Church, Ibadan,
a raid was organized and SARS operatives arrested the following suspected armed
robbers: Olaitan Ayodele, Abiola Alaba, Oyewole Ogunwole, Adedeji Mustapha,
Omooba Oyewole and Adedeji Mustapha. On interrogation, they all confessed to
their past and present crimes within and outside Oyo State. They also confessed
to have attacked and robbed two police officers.
All the people they confessed to have robbed were contacted and they
corroborated their confessions.
In order to recover some of their loot as well as arms and ammunition, a
search was conducted in the house of the leader of the gang, one Ayodele
Olaitan along Airport Road, Ibadan and the following exhibits were recovered;
one pump action gun, one English cut-to-size double barrel gun, one
single-barrel gun, locally made cylinders and many others.
they ve been beating before this photo was taken, that sore is an eye sore.
ReplyDeletethey look desperate though
ReplyDeleteEverybody is religious in nigeria even murderers after killing they go the church or mosque god dey o
ReplyDeleteEverybody is religious in nigeria even murderers after killing they go the church or mosque god dey o
ReplyDelete