The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ex-convicts

  • Ex-convicts held for alleged robbery

    Rapid Response Squad (RRS) operatives have arrested two persons for allegedly robbing a motorist in Mile 2.

    Sunday Chukwunweike, 26 and Emmanuel Friday, 28 were arrested after a four-man gang robbed a driver Yinusa Salami, whose truck broke down in Mile 2.

    The gang was said to have robbed Salami of N45,000 cash and his mobile phone.

    Salami, RRS said, reported the case to RRS men on Mile 2 Bridge.

    “Our men actually saw them but thought they were together unknowing that those guys were robbing him. It was few minutes after they had left that the driver approached the operatives. The suspected robbers were traced and two of them were arrested,” RRS said in a statement yesterday.

    The operatives quoted Emmanuel as saying: “I was in the company of my friends when we saw the driver. He was coming from Apapa. He stopped on the bridge to pick somebody. It was the elderly ones among us that robbed him. I thought they were going to drop some money for us to eat when we approached him. It was Silas and Sule that took the money and the phone and we went our way. They later told us that it was N40,000 they took in his pocket. They gave my colleague and I N10,000 to share. We went back to our usual joint before the truck driver led police to arrest us.

    “I have been to the prison twice, one in 2013 where I spent seven months in jail and also in 2016 where I bagged three months after engaging in street fighting.”

    Chukwunweike said: “I came back from prison after spending three months but here I am again in another mess”.

    Salami said he stopped on the bridge to pick his brother.

    He said: “I was coming from Apapa and heading to Osun. I wanted to assist my brother who was equally going to Osun State. I got to the bridge and I alighted from the truck that was when I saw four of them.

    “I was about giving them some money when they seized my arms, before dragging me to the ground and forcefully collected all the money in my pocket N45,000 claiming they control the area and nothing can happen afterwards.

    I reported to the police and they followed me to track the boys. That was when we saw the two of them trying to split their own share of the money. They were arrested there but the other two guys escaped.”

    The suspects have been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department.

  • Police re-arrest ex-convicts for robbery

    The police in Oyo State have re-arrested three ex-convicts for robbery.

    Kamaru Ganiyu (28), Muili Taofeek (21) and Azeez Muyideen (22) were among the 17 suspects paraded at the Police Headquarters in Eleyele, Ibadan by the Commissioner of Police, Leye Oyebade.

    Oyebade said Ganiyu, who was released from Oyo prison in February, was arrested with his gang and stole David Abel’s car on April 26.

    “Kamaru was arrested with his gang, following intelligence report. They confessed to have carried out the robberies in some parts of the state,” he said.

    Also paraded were Agu Onyeka (21); Biodun Jamiu (34); Dare Azeez (21) and Nurudeen Bilawu (28).

    In an interview with The Nation, Ganiyu said he was only finding a means of livelihood as his family does not want to see him again.

    The police commissioner said  Taofeek, released from Agodi prison, was rearrested when he broke into  Desola Yusuf’s house.

    He said the suspect while escaping snatched a purse containing assorted phones and N25,000.

    “Muyideen, also released from Agodi prison, went back the following day to steal a Bajaj motorcycle, where it was parked.”

    The police boss said the ex convict was arrested on April 22 through the effort of the public.

  • Ex-convicts held for attempted robbery

    Ex-convicts held for attempted robbery

    •’I was looking for money for my drugs’

    An ex-convict, who was rearrested last Friday by the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) operatives for alleged attempted robbery, has claimed that he was trying to raise funds for his drugs.

    Phillip Toihile, who claims to be diabetic, was arrested with Salifu Abbey, 26 and Idris Sulayman, 28, also an ex-convict, in Ijora, Lagos  around 10pm while allegedly attempting to rob a taxi driver, Fatai Amori.

    At the RRS’ headquarters at Alausa, Ikeja, the Lagos State capital,  Toihile, 24, said he went into robbery to raise N17, 000 for his drugs.

    The suspect, who was released from Kirikiri prison in July 2014, said: “This entire thing is like a temptation. With my condition, I am not expected to be found in a situation like this. I was sick. I went to health centre. They said I am diabetic and that my sugar level was 475 milligram. The doctor prescribed some drugs worth about N17, 000. I was told at the health centre to go and get the drugs and come back for further test.

    “So, I invited my friend, Abbey, and I explained to him my situation. I sought his cooperation and he agreed to assist me to raise the funds. I got the gun that we used in Yaba Railway yard. The gun was wrapped with a polythene bag by cart pushers. I picked it with two live cartridges and we mapped out our plans.”

    Toihile added: “I told Abbey to wave down a taxi cab. Our plan was for the cab to take us to a desolate place where we can rob and dispossess the driver of all his days’ earnings. We told the driver that we were going to Ijora, and that we are going to get down in two separate points. I would get down first while Abbey would alight later.

    “I sat at the back seat with Abbey in front beside the driver hiding a locally made long gun in his rain jacket. We were close to my bus stop when the driver, apparently frightened asked for the fare.

    “Abbey and I started arguing on who should pay the fare, which was part of our plan. Unfortunately, Abbey was pulling out the gun when RRS men approached the vehicle to see if everything was alright with us but he noticed Abbey was trying to hide something. They searched the vehicle and found our gun, a knife on me and two live cartridges.”

    But Abbey, a labourer, said: “Although the gun was found on me but it was giving to me by Toihile. He told me he was returning the gun to the owner in Ijora while he was on his way to his girlfriend’s house. He begged me to help him conceal the gun. Because he was looking frail and emaciated, if he had a gun on, people would spot it. Besides, what I was putting on was a jeans and overall jacket, I felt it was easier for me to hide the gun.”

    He said he felt bad about it all, adding that his wife and children would not forgive him if they found out.

    Sulayman was named by the suspects as their leader even though he was not arrested along with them.

    Sulayman, an ex-convict turned cobbler, was arrested by the police when he was trying to monitor the suspects through phone.

    “After I gained my freedom from prison about a year ago, I have turned a new leaf,” he said, adding that he was trying to know the whereabouts of Abbey, whose wife, he claimed, visited his shop when he was not seen at home.

    Amori said he took the suspects around 9:30pm in Yaba, adding: “Because they were two and are dropping at separate locations, I charged them N700 but they negotiated to pay N500 and I carried them. I sensed some strange feeling few minutes later when I requested for fare and they started arguing.

    “At this time, we were close to Ijora. I parked waiting for them to settle the issue between themselves. Suddenly, Abbey, who sat beside me in front, brought out a gun and just in the nick of time, the RRS parked beside us and sighted the gun. That was how they were arrested.”

    “I never knew they had planned to rob me, even kill me because I had no money on me. I got the vehicle on hire purchase. I am only using the vehicle to support my main business, I am a mechanic. Whenever I close from workshop, I pick up my taxi”, he said.

  • Three ex-convicts held for alleged traffic robbery

    Three ex-convicts held for alleged traffic robbery

    Three ex-convicts yesterday again ran into trouble following their arrest for alleged traffic robbery at oshodi, Lagos.

    Mustapha Adekunle, 21, Olumide Popoola, 20 and Femi Amusa, 20, were arrested by Rapid Response Squad (RRS) operatives following a tip-off by their victim, Olasunkanmi Oyelakin.

    The victim said his blackberry phone was stolen by the suspects during early morning traffic rush around Bolade, Oshodi.

    He said: “I was on my way to Ajah at 6:30am, I saw Adekunle passed by the bus I boarded. Unknown to me, he was monitoring me. A few minutes later, I noticed a missed call on my phone, and as I brought out the phone, he took the phone from me through the  window and ran away. Because there was traffic, I made no attempt to struggle with him, but got down from the nearest bus-stop and I began to monitor him. I noticed that he had regrouped with his friends and one of them was telling him to hand over the phone he stole from me.

    “I knew I couldn’t handle the three of them all alone, so I informed the RRS operatives who followed me to the place where he was arrested.”

    Adekunle said he was driven by frustration to steal the handset.

    “I am a bus conductor in Oshodi. I am from Ibadan and a secondary school dropout. I sleep in Ojuwoye, Mushin. I am an ex–convict. I don’t want to go to prison again. Government should please have mercy on me. I was frustrated into traffic robbery. I won’t do it again,” he pleaded.

    Popoola and Amusa denied being in-traffic robbers.

    “We were in Lagos to make money to buy working tools having completed our apprenticeship,” Popoola said.

    The RRS has also recovered a locally-made gun with a cartridge in Surulere, Lagos Mainland.

    The gun was recovered around 2am during the RRS patrol of Iganmu Bridge by the Nigerian Breweries Complex.

    The patrol team had spotted three on the bridge.  On sighting the police, the men fled.

    During a search of where they were standing, a locally-made short gun was found with an unspent cartridge.

    Police spokesman Joe Offor, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), said the suspects had been charged to court.