The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Armed robbers

  • Oyo Police arrest 11 robbery suspects, recovers 18 vehicles

    Oyo Police arrest 11 robbery suspects, recovers 18 vehicles

    Eleven suspected armed robbers currently terrorizing the residents of Ibadan and environs have been arrested by the Oyo state Police Command along with eighteen assorted vehicles recovered from armed bandits in different parts of the state.

    The suspects who were paraded before newsmen Monday at the state Police Headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan included two ex-convicts who were released from prison few weeks ago.

    Speaking with newsmen Monday, the state Police Commissioner, Mr Leye Oyebade said all the suspects have given confessional statements and they would soon be arraigned in the court of law.

    While warning all criminally minded people to stay away from Oyo state, the state Police boss said the Command would continued to improve on its crime bursting strategies to ensure that the state is crime free , adding that the command has re-engineered and re-invigorated its swift anti-robbery squad for effective crime bursting.

    Two weeks ago, the state police Command had recovered 20 vehicles and arrested 15 suspected armed robbers.

    Various items recovered from the suspects paraded Monday included one locally made double barrel pistol, seven live cartridges, one Honda Accord car with registration number JJJ 691AX, one Toyota Camry car with registration number AKD 226 DN, A Toyota Camry car with registration number AAA 593 DL, one LG Plasma TV, one Toshihba Plasma TV, one unregistered Toyota Highlander, one green Toyota Highlander with registration number ABJ 42 KU and one ash colored unregistered Toyota Camry amongst others.

    On the armed robbery suspects and serial burglars that have been terrorizing the inhabitants of Ibadan and environs, the Commissioner of Police said the four gang of robbers (Olusola Adenle 37, Rasaq Femi 23, Pul Olaitan 20, and Sani Abdulahi 26) had successfully broke into a dwelling house at Egbeda area of Ibadan and carted away various household items.

    “The armed robbers who were armed to the teeth during the operation had planned to attack their victims who might want to put up resistance. Investigations revealed that the hoodlums who usually came from Ikire, Osun state are responsible for series of burglary and robbery operations in Ibadan and many parts of the state including
    Osun state,” he said.

    One of the arrested armed robbery suspects who was released from prison some weeks ago, Paul Olaitan,  20 years old, said he used to be a Mass Communication student of the Polytechnic Ibadan before he was rusticated and expelled from the school due to bad behaviors.

    Another suspect, also an ex-convict , Femi Rasaq told newsmen that he went into crime because he was fond of it , adding that he is a trained Barber but failed to practice the trade.

    Michael Oladele, 25, who was arrested while trying to sell a Nissan Jeep in Ekiti state, explained that he was forced into car snatching because he wanted to make a living.

    The state Commissioner of Police enjoined members of the public to continue to give useful information that could lead to the arrest of criminal elements still in the state, adding that the Command is determined to fight crime and make the state safe for all.

  • Police over-power robbers on Zuba/ Kaduna Express

    Police over-power robbers on Zuba/ Kaduna Express

    Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force on escort duty ran into a gang of armed robbers on Tuesday along Zuba/Kaduna Road at about 02:00 a.m.

    According to the Force, a gun duel ensued and two of the robbers were fatally wounded while others fled after they were over-powered by the police personnel.

    “The area was combed but no arrest was made.

    “Three (3) AK-47 rifles, one hundred and four (104) rounds of live ammunition, N57,130 cash and a red coloured Toyota Corolla car with registration number KSF 58 AJ, were recovered from the hoodlums,” the Police said.

    The force added that injured suspects were taken to University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada where they were confirmed dead, and their Corpses were deposited at the same hospital mortuary.

    [news_box style=”3″ display=”tag” link_target=”_blank” category=”256″ tag=”Robbers” count=”8″ show_more=”on” show_more_type=”link”]

  • Female keke armed robbers nabbed in Akwa Ibom

    Female keke armed robbers nabbed in Akwa Ibom

    Two female armed robbers who specialise in looting shops, boutiques, supermarkets and restaurants have been nabbed.

    The notorious gang which has been terrorising pedestrians and residents of Uyo, the Akwa Ibom Capital, using keke to operate was last Thursday apprehended by some residents of  Ekpo Obot Street who gave them a hot pursuit after they had stolen from a boutique at No. 15 Ekpo Obot Street.

    Narrating her ordeal, the Boutique sales girl, Imaobong Isaiah exclaimed: “See me o-o-o! The two girls entered my shop on a pretence to buy from me but after picking all the costly female hand bags, shoes, men jeans, hand watches and cloths worth forty-five thousand naira, instead of paying for what they have bought, they sent me to go and buy them drinks.

    “So, I went to buy drinks for them at the nearby shop. As I returned, I met them making calls, and immediately their operational Keke man who was on standby to pick them came and they dashed inside the Keke with all my cloths without paying. So, I told them to give me my cloths, they refused.

    “So, I started shouting, help! Thief! Thief! But the Keke man had already moved. As God would like it, luck ran out on them, the people around and people using cars pursued them and caught them.”

    Questioning the two suspects, Grace Ekpo and Mfon Daniel from Itiam Ikot Ebia, Uyo Local Government, they confessed to the crime; saying apart from looting from shops, they have been involved in all kinds of robberies in the State and begged the people not to kill them.

    They said: “When we enter peoples’ shops, we will pack the most costly ones; after which we will ask the attendant to get us water or send you on an errand. That will make us run away with the goods without paying for it. We rob women in Keke, we pick recharge card bags and anything that would fetch us quick money.’’

    The gang was however saved from the angry mob when men of the Police Force arrived the scene, and whisked them away to the Police Station along Wellington Bassey Way, Uyo.

    An eyewitness told this reporter that the gang had earlier also stolen clothes from another boutique on the same street, including hand bags full with recharge cards and cash of about fifty thousands of naira.

    Police Public Relations Officer Cordelia Nwawe could not be reached to comment on the development.

     

  • ‘We’re big boy armed robbers’

    ‘We’re big boy armed robbers’

    The love for ostentatious life has put four apprentice traders in trouble. They rob boutiques, and the homes of the rich for expensive shoes, clothes and jewelry in order to show off as “big boy traders”.

    A member of the gang, Ugo Nnakue, 26, told Lagos State Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) operatives that they operated discreetly.

    Ugo, an apprentice in the Ladipo Auto Parts market in Lagos, is being held by the police with Ozioma Ike, 20, Kenechukwu Anierobi, 23, a hustler, and the gang leader, Obi Gaza.

    Anierobi was arrested in Mushin by a patrol team on May 18 with a nylon bag containing stolen phones.

    He was taken to Mushin Police Station where he confessed that he belonged to a four-man gang that used sledge hammers and iron cutter to break into boutiques.

    He was transferred to SARS Headquarters in Ikeja, from where he took the police to arrest Ike and Gaza .

    Nnakwe said: “I sent Kenechukwu to follow Obi and the other one to break a shop at Mushin and one boutique on Nkenu Street in Ajao Estate. They went with one rod and two iron cutters. I sent them two times. I shared their loot with my roommate. I chose my size of jeans and shoes and started wearing them. I received four phones while my roommate got about five. We break shops to get expensive shoes, clothes which ordinarily we could not afford. But it was just to show off as big boy traders in Ladipo market and its environs.

    “In our second operation, I got 12 jeans trousers, two wrist watches and 13 assorted shirts which I kept for personal use because I did not loot to sell. We succeeded in the third operation but one of us, Kenechukwu, was arrested by police. When police arrested him, we ran away but he later brought SARS operatives to arrest us despite the oath we took not to betray any member in a situation like that.”

    “For three years, as an apprentice, my master (who is even my brother) refused to settle me. He even found it difficult to give me pocket money to be like my peers; that was why I joined the gang to get fine clothes to wear like my mates.”

    Ike said he followed the gang to break into two boutiques, adding that his role was to alert others in case of danger. “We shared our loot in our sponsor’s house. In the first operation, I got 15 jeans trousers and 10 tops (shirts), while in the second, I got 21 jeans trousers and 13 tops. I used my bag to pack some of the loot. We hanged somewhere till 4 am before we started working towards a bus stop. We steal to show off as big boy traders in Mushin,” he said.

    Anierobi said: “I hustle in Ladipo market. I usually charged N1, 000 for carrying an engine. I joined them to break shop in Mushin where we got 35 phones. We used cutter, chisel and wheel spanner to break shops.”

  • Arrested Ikoyi armed robbers narrate operations

    Arrested Ikoyi armed robbers narrate operations

    FOUR of the 11-man gang that killed three policemen and two civilians in the March 12 Lekki, Lagos bank robbery have been arrested by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

    Duke Odogbo, 38; Lawrence Kingsley, 31; Ebi Tosan, 20, and Ekelemo Kuete, 30, were paraded in Ikeja yesterday by Police Commissioner Kayode Aderanti with the exhibits recovered from them. Among the exhibits are a Honda Accord 2008 Model (Evil Spirit), one white blackberry Z10 phone, one white Apple I5, one military cap and 130 expended ammunitions.

    The casualties were Inspector Bethel Agbola, Sergeant Odehohwo George, Corporal Imosisiu Ikechukwu, Mr Sowemimo Kabiru and Sarah Ibikunle, 15, fish seller around the area.

    Odogbo who hails from Warri North in Delta State, said: “We are 11 in number. We came with two boats but one had problem, so we used only one. We came with seven rifles. The extra three rifles that brought our total rifles to 10 belonged to the three policemen killed by my gang. They were not posted to the bank. My members saw them on road patrol. They interfered and they shot them dead and took their three rifles.

    “I was the first to fire a warning shot when we entered the bank, a branch of First City Monument Bank (FCMB) located on Admiralty Way. We collected N15million from the bank’s vault. We sprayed out the money from ATM machine.

    They gave me N500,000 as my own share. I was arrested in my house in Warri.”

    Aderanti said after the movie-like action, he convened a meeting of all commanders of combat units including Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Operatives, Department of Investigation, Rapid Response Squad (RRS), SARS, Special Investigation Bureau (SIB), Marine and Police Mobile Force (PMF), mandating them that the perpetrators must be fished out.

    Aderanti said based on intelligence, six Decoy SARS teams were dispatched to Delta, Ogun, Ondo states and Ikorodu, Lagos under his supervision.

    These efforts, he said, paid off on March 20 when Odogbo, the gang’s leader was picked up in Warri, Delta State. Kuete, who drove one of the speed boats, was picked up in Majidun, Ikorodu; Kingsley and Tosan were later arrested.

    The suspects, he said, had confessed, adding that efforts were being intensified to arrest their fleeing accomplices.

  • ‘Armed robbers’ shoot journalist

    ‘Armed robbers’ shoot journalist

    There was panic on the busy Oshodi- Apapa Expressway yesterday after suspected armed robbers attacked and shot a journalist.

    The victim identified as Victor Ahiuma-Young was waylaid by two gunmen around Sadiku Bus stop, Ilasamaja after he left a commercial bank where he had gone to withdraw some money.

    Eyewitnesses said that Ahiuma-Young, an Assistant Labour Editor with Vanguard Newspaper had stopped by a vendor’s stand, few metres from the pedestrian bridge to buy some newspapers when his attackers who rode on a motorcycle, accosted him, demanding the money he withdrew from the bank.

    “As he was looking at the papers, one of the men shot him on the thigh and ordered him to hand over the money he withdrew to them.

    “When he turned to see what was wrong, another shot was fired at him, which made everyone at the bus stop to run for safety.

    “We have seen these motorcycle thieves snatching people’s bags as they come out from the bank but have never really seen them shooting someone this much,” said one of the female jewellers by the foot of the pedestrian bridge.

    According to her, the incident took place around 10am very close to the bank on the expressway.

    However, The Nation gathered that Ahiuma-Young’s attack was the 15th since November last year.

    Traders at the bridge claim that a similar incident happened last month where a teenager whose father had given money he withdrew from the same bank was attacked and his wrist cut by motorcycle robbers.

    They expressed worry at the spate of robberies given that there is a Police Station not so far from the bus stop, just as they berated the late arrival of policemen from the Olosan Division, who came after the robbery.

    It was learnt that Ahiuma-Young while trying to scare his attackers away, picked a stone which he hauled at them but received another gunshot on his hand as he tried to pick another stone.

    With the final bullet hitting his hand, the money was said to have fallen off, which the robbers hurriedly picked up before escaping on their motorcycle.

    The journalist was said to have bled severely with onlookers unwilling to assist him fearing he may die and land them in trouble.

    Sensing that help was far from him, Ahiuma-Young was said to have staggered towards May Clinic, not too far from the scene where doctors on duty attended to him and extracted 13 pellets from his thighs before referring him to Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) for proper medical attention.

     

  • Confusion as armed robbers snatch bullion van in P/Harcourt

    A gang of daring armed robbers yesterday robbed a bullion van in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, leading to the death of a yet-to-be-identified person, while a large cache of arms and ammunition recovered by men of the state’s police command.

    The sporadic exchange of gunshots from the fleeing armed robbers and the policemen who chased them, made residents of Diobu, Port Harcourt, to scamper to safety to avoid being hit by stray bullets.

    Most owners of shops and other business outfits in Miles 1, 2 and 3 in Diobu, Port Harcourt, hurriedly closed, while the roads suddenly became empty, as motorists and pedestrians had to run for their lives.

    The Rivers Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Muhammad Kidaya Ahmad, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), confirmed the robbery.

    The PPRO said: “On 06/03/2015 at about 1501 hours at Mile 3, armed robbers swooped on a bullion van conveying money belonging to a bank customer and carted the money away.

    “The armed robbers were engaged by policemen on duty at the bank and gave them a hot chase. Sensing policemen were closing-in on them, they jettisoned the operation and abandoned their operational vehicle, including unspecified amount of money in locked bags. They escaped after robbing a vehicle from a motorist.

    “Items recovered from the foiled armed robbery include their operational vehicle, a golden Toyota Highlander, one Barretta pistol, one scorpion rifle, eleven AK-47 magazines, 63 assorted live ammunition, two objects suspected to be dynamite, a charm and different vehicle plate numbers.

    “Close examination at their vehicle indicated that the armed robbers sustained gunshot wounds, as it was soaked with blood. One person lost his life.”

    Ahmad also pleaded with the members of the public to report anybody seen with wounds suspected to be gun shot to the nearest police station or call 08032003514, 08028915460, 08028915462 and 08160723892.

  • Car thieves kill doctor, rape fiancée

     

    • “Command” charm fails car snatcher


    A gang of car thieves led by one Solomon Abuede Tuesday narrated how they killed a medical doctor, raped his fiancée and dumped his body in a well.

    The act was committed at Ekpoma, headquarters of Esan West Local Government Area of Edo State.

    Solomon said the doctor was first strangulated before they tied his body to a wood and throw his body inside a well.

    He said they were told to kill any victim with flashy cars.

    Solomon was among 46 suspects arrested for various crimes across the state since June.

    He said he has been involved in several car snatching especially at Ekpoma axis.

    A 61 year old man, Sunday Oviasogie, was named as the chief sponsor of Solomon’s gang.

    Sunday confessed that he has received over 50 stolen cars and has been in the business for the past 15 years.

    Another gang, Ehis Ogbefu and Innocent Sunday said a ‘command charm’ they procured for N60,000 failed them.

    They were arrested at Ewohimin with a Lexus Jeep they snatched in Delta State.

    Ehis said, “We did the command charm at Ubiaja. Anybody we talk to even policemen will obey us. The charm worked on the woman we collected the car from but it did not work on policemen at Ewohimin.”

    “The charm is just alligator pepper and some leaves the man asked me to chew. When I talked to the police, they still arrested us. When I go back, I will demand my money from the man because the charm failed.”

    Edo State Police Commissioner, Foluso Adebanjo said a total of 2,112 live AK47 ammunition, 14 assorted guns, 22 live cartridges and seven cars were recovered.

    Adebanjo urged Edo residents to be vigilant in the face of insecurity experienced in parts of the country.


  • Police arrest armed robbers at Savannah Bank building

    Six young men were arrested by a team of  anti- robbery policemen attached to the Area A Police Command, Lion Building while looting the properties of the distressed Savannah Bank on Lagos Island.

    The incident occurred yesterday at the Broad Street head office of the bank about 8.30 a.m.

    The suspects, who are all teenagers are Ibrahim Luka,  Kunle Malik,  Sheriff Lawal , Tnde Basiru,  Arif Sarumi, Lukman Ojikutu and  Fidelis Joshua.

    They were alleged to have been burgling the building for a very long time before the policemen swooped on them  following a tip-off from the angry residents.

    “Distress call was received from the Ikeja control room that some armed robbers were operating at Savannah Bank, Broad Street. The policemen stormed the area and these boys were arrested” said a police source.

    Residents of the area, who gathered at the crime scene, but would not want their names in the print, identified some of the boys who they said had  been tormenting residents of the area for a very long time.

    Some of the suspects  attacked  the policemen with cutlasses in an attempt to escape arrest upon the arrival of the policemen led by  Sgt. Mohammed  Akeem, but the police repelled the attack.

    Items recovered from the suspected armed robbers  included three cutlasses, one iron bar,  one iron saw  and some  cables.

    The suspects are now cooling their feet at the Area A Command where they are currently undergoing interrogation.

    Residents of the area commended the Area Commander, Imohimi Edgal, for the quick response of the policemen.

  • Police kill seven ‘armed robbers’ in Gombe

    The Joint Task Force (JTF) yesterday killed seven members of a suspected robbery gang, which has allegedly been terrorising Gombe.

    It was learnt that an infant was also hit and killed by a stray bullet during the crossfire between the hoodlums and the JTF men at the Barunde Quarters in Gombe town.

    The hoodlums were said to have entered the town through the surrounding hills and started shooting indiscriminately.

    The residents reportedly alerted the JTF patrol team.

    The security agents were said to have overpowered the hoodlums and arrested some of them.

    Those arrested reportedly led the security team to the hoodlums’ hideout in an uncompleted building. In another round of gun battle, the seven suspected robbers were killed.

    The JTF team also demolished the hideout.

    The infant, who was hit by a stray bullet, was said to be the child of a suspected member of the gang.

    The father reportedly escaped with bullet wounds during the gun battle.

    Police spokesman, Fwaje Atajiri, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), confirmed the incident.

    He said the hoodlums were among those who attacked a Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) mega filling station in Gombe and killed two policemen.

    The police spokesman said the hoodlums also attacked a popular supermarket in the town and stole an unspecified amount of money.

    Atajiri warned residents, especially landlords, to know their tenants well before renting their apartments to them.

    He advised them to give useful information to security agencies, adding: “The police are here to protect the life and property of the citizens.”