The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Highway robbers

  • Police nab three over alleged highway robbery in Enugu

    The police command in Enugu State has arrested three alleged highway robbers operating along the Enugu-Port Harcourt Road.

    The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the command, SP Ebere Amaraizu, said in a statement issued on Sunday that the suspects were arrested on Feb. 15 at about 8p.m.

    Amaraizu said the feat was achieved by police operatives of Mbanabo Division who acted on intelligence information.

    He noted that the suspects specialised in planting sharp objects on Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, thereby causing vehicles tyres to be punctured, forcing affected vehicles to stop and rob passengers.

    He said the suspects gave their names as Henry Odogwu of 36 Amechi Road, Awkunanaw; Clement Udo of 28 Odudukoko Street Gariki and Chinweuba Okoye of 17 Chikaogbe Street, Maryland Enugu State.

    Read also: Thugs connive with Police to terrorize Electorates – Famurewa

    According to him, the suspects were nabbed on their way to carry oyt their activities where they were rounded up by the operatives.

    “In their separate reactions, suspects had maintained that it was their friend identified as one Ifeanyi from Agbogugu in Awgu Local Government Area of the state who lured them into the illicit business.

    “The sharp chisel-like objects are usually placed on the road along Ogbaku axis of Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway at night.

    “They said their role was always to come out from the bush to rob occupants of  vehicle which tyres had picked sharp chisel objects placed on the road by the said Ifeanyi,’’ he said.

    Amaraizu said the suspects were regretting their actions and advised youths to know the kind of persons they keep as friends.

    He said this would allow them to avoid being misled into getting involved in criminality.

    He said that the suspects had been helping police operatives in their investigation, while manhunt on other members of the gang had been intensified. (NAN)

  • Police arrest two suspected highway robbers with pistol

    Police arrest two suspected highway robbers with pistol

    Men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) Lagos State Police Command have arrested two persons in Lagos for unlawful possession of pistol and some live cartridges and attempt to rob on the highway in the Agbara area of Lagos.

    Police source revealed the two suspects Rafiu Modiu, 25, Akintunde Sunday, 24, were arrested while trying to carry out robbery operation armed with a pistol and three live cartridges.

    The two suspects, who were among the robbers who used to attack and rob inter-state travellers on a daily basis were paraded by the Commissioner of Police, CP Edgal Oluwole Imohimi at the state police command headquarters in Ikeja.

     Modiu said: “I just bought the pistol N15, 000. We are not armed robbers. I bought the gun to use it to defend myself from the touts’ attacks who wanted to take over our motorcycle park or loading spot. It was on Thursday that police arrested us at a checkpoint on the highway after Agbara. They stopped us and saw the gun in our possession and arrested us.

    ‘’We told the policemen that some Omota boys (touts) used to come to our motorcycle park to attack us with intent to take over our park. They used to be armed and for us to withstand them and face them, we bought the gun in our possession which police found on us.

    ‘’I have never robbed before and I do not intend to rob till I die. I wanted to go and keep the gun in a safe place before police saw us and arrested us.

  • Police kill two suspected highway robbers in Ogun

    •Luxury bus, cash, arms recovered

    Two persons suspected to have robbed a Southeast-bound luxury bus at Ogbere on Sagamu-Ore Expressway in Ogun State were shot dead by men of the State Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) attached to the Ogebere-Ijebu divisional police headquarters.

    The suspects’ bodies were displayed at Ogbere Police Station with three pump action rifles, two locally-made pistols and a machete, allegedly recovered from them.

    Also, N166,000, handsets, laptop, wristwatches and other valuables, said to have been snatched from the victims were recovered from the suspects.

    The 34-passenger bus on the fleet of the Chisco Investment Company, with registration number (Lagos) AAA 649 XN, was said to have been attacked by the robbers at 1 a.m.

    The hoodlums allegedly broke the windshields of the bus, forced their way in and evicted the driver and drove it into the bush.

    It was gathered that the robbers first used an 18-seater bus to block access to the luxury bus, compelled the driver to pull over and used their weapons to smash their way into the bus.

    A victim, Donatus Adie, told reporters that the bus took off at Jibowu in Lagos en route Aba-Owerri-Port-Harcourt.

    He said it was at J4 near Ogbere the robbers struck and dispossessed the passengers of their valuables.

    Adie said for over two hours the operation lasted, the hoodlums terrorised the passengers.

    The traveller said even after the robbers had vanished into the bush, the fear-stricken victims remained in the bush until the police arrived.

    Kunle Apanishile, who said the suspects snatched his N30,000 and wristwatch, added that the hoodlums beat him up.

    Police spokesman Abimbola Oyeyemi, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), said the police got information that a bus conveying passengers was attacked at J4 Junction.

    The spokesman said this prompted the Ogbere Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Agunbiade Adeyinka, to storm the area with his team.

    Abimbola said although the robbers had left the scene when the police arrived, he added that the police traced them to their hideout in a bush, where two of them were shot dead.

    He said another suspect escaped with gunshot wound.

  • Highway robbers meet waterloo in Ibadan

    It was a sad end for a gang of highway robbers that had been terrorizing the Ajah area of Lagos state for some time now as men of the Highway Patrol unit of the Oyo State Police Command recently brought their reign of terror to an end. TAYO JOHNSON reports

    The end has come for a gang of highway robbers that had been terrorising motorists and residents of Ajah area of Lagos State, thanks to the activities of the Oyo State Police command.

    The gang which had for long remained a threat to peace in the area was arrested along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway by a team of policemen from the Highway Patrol unit of the command.

    The robbers, who were paraded in Ibadan last week, allegedly robbed a woman of her Toyota Camry car at gun point in Ajah in Lagos, and were escaping towards the Oyo State capital, when they were intercepted by the police.

    It was gathered that the four-man gang after robbing the woman of her car, forced her into the vehicle and later drove towards Third Mainland Bridge heading for Ibadan. Somewhere on the bridge, the woman was dropped off and given N400 to join a commercial vehicle back home.

    But luck ran against the robbers when they encountered a Highway Patrol team along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway which stopped them for routine checks. But as they were being interrogated, three members of the gang ran out of the car and escaped into the bush leaving only the driver, 28-year-old Semiu Sikiru, who was arrested on the spot. One other member of the gang 27-year-old Daniel Okorie was later tracked down to Challenge area of Ibadan by the police and arrested.

    Addressing journalists at Eleyele Police Command headquarters, the state Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Indabawa, revealed that the  federal highway patrol team that arrested the suspect was led by Inspector Ihedoro Emmanuel, while the intercepted the stolen car had a registration number DL 550 BEN.

    Indabawa explained that:  “As the patrol team was trying to interrogate the occupants of the vehicle, three of the occupants jumped out of the car and escaped into the bush, adding that the unrelenting effort of the policemen led to the arrest of one of the fleeing suspects identified as Daniel at Orita Challenge area of Ibadan.

    The police boss gave an assurance that the other suspects at large would soon be arrested.

    Speaking with The Nation, one of the suspects, simply identified as Semiu, confessed to the crime, saying that his role in the gang was only to drive anytime they snatched cars.

    According to him, the Toyota Camry vehicle was snatched from a woman in Ajah area of Lagos before they proceeded to Ibadan.

    Also, his partner in crime, Daniel also confessed to the crime, saying that immediately the car was snatched from the woman they drove her in the vehicle and dropped her off on the Third Mainland Bridge and gave her N400 as transport fare.

    He stated that he escaped into the bush with two others when policemen stopped them but was arrested later in Ibadan, where they had gone to meet with a buyer of the vehicle identified as Sola.

    Daniel said the gang had successfully snatched four vehicles from their owners at gun point.

    Also, a member of another gang of armed robbers simply called Uche was arrested along Ogbomosho/Ilorin Road by men of the Oyo State police command.

    Uche confessed that his gang normally operates on the highway by nailing sharp irons in the middle of the road to entrap unsuspecting motorists. Their evil plan caught a trailer driver when the tyres of his truck were punctured by the sharp iron. But as the robbers converged on the vehicle to conclude their plot, a team of police that had laid ambush on the road pounded on them after which one of them named” Enukwe” who stays around Agbowo area in Ibadan was hit by the police bullet and was arrested. Indabawa, however, promised to track down those robbers that escaped, while advising  the people of the state to be security conscious and report any suspect to the nearest police station.