Damola Kola-Dare
POLICEMEN attached to the IGP Special Tactical Squad Ayetoro, Itele, Ogun State have arrested members of a car-snatching gang.
The suspects are Segun Ogunyomi,Michael Peter, Fatai Mohammed,Kehinde, who died at Ayetoro Police Station, and Shina Oyebola.
The other member of the gang died along Ifako Road. Speaking to The Nation, Inspector Oyesanmi Adebayo, who led the operation, stated that they apprehended the suspects in the early hours yesterday morning along Gbagada Road.
He stated that a shootout ensued between members of his team and the alleged robbers leaving two of their men dead and two of the robbers.
He said “We were on the trail of these robbers in the early hours of Saturday morning. There was a shootout between us and the robbers.
Two of our men lost their lives. We lost Saheed Ola, our driver and Corporal Peju Ayansola. Two of the robbers died also. One died in our station here in Ayetoro Itele while the other one died along Ifako Road because of bullet wounds he sustained.
The one who died along Ifako Road was taken to Ifako Police Station.We would go there to recover his corpse and the gun found on him.”
According to him, the police recovered a rifle, four pistols, bullets, charms and two unregistered vehicles from the suspects, a red and black Toyota Corolla. He noted that the black one was taken to Alagolo Police Station along Ipaja Road.
Speaking to The Nation, leader of the gang, Fatai Mohammed also known as ‘Dollar’, lamented that the inability to get a job after he was sacked at his workplace in Jebba, Kwara state, led him into car theft. He added that he won’t go into such crime anymore noting if he ever did after this, the police should kill him.
Another member of the gang, Shina Oyebola, 39, stated that he only served as a link between the suspected car robbers and one Alhaji who promised to help him when he came back from prison initially.
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“I didn’t go into the crime intentionally. When I left prison sometime in the past, I had nothing to eat. The hunger and poverty I experienced got to an unbearable level. Then I met Alhaji who promised me to help me. He is a car dealer. I didn’t know I would be a link between him and robbers. I have helped in delivering only two cars to Alhaji ever since I started and he gave me only N5000,” he said.
Assistant Superintendent of Police, Toyin Omosebi, who heads the Special Tactical Squad Unit in Ayetoro Itele Ota, Ogun State, disclosed how Shina Oyebola was used as bait in apprehending the other members of the robbery gang.
“The police tracked Shina and got him after absconding earlier. When we were on the trail of the others, we used him to get them. His other gang members had called for another operation not knowing he was in our custody. We told him to ask of their location and they told him to come to Ojodu Berger. We set off for Berger and eventually arrested them,” she explained.
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