THE Lagos State Police Command has smashed a suspected robbery gang made up of panel beaters, drivers, car dealers, native doctors, private security men, auto mechanics, landlords, fake pastors and businessmen without fixed business addresses.
Suspected members of the gang arrested by the police include Seyi Oyewale, Saheed Adebayo, Isa Adegbenro, Kayode Quadri, Afeez Ibrahim and Femi Ashiru. Others, including one Kazeem a.k.a. Naira and Alaba, were said to be at large.
Narrating his role in the series of robbery operations they allegedly carried out before their arrest, one of the suspects, Afeez Ibrahim a.k.a. Sharpman, a 35-year-old indigene of Odogbolu town, Ogun State, said: “I am a panel beater. I was doing well in my job before I met Femi Ashiru (one of the suspects in police net).
“I made so much money that I built a house of my own. I was contented with the money I made on a daily basis. I worked seven days in a week. The moment Femi came into my life, my character changed. I started lying to my customers. At times, I deliberately destroyed a part of a car and collected money from the owner to buy a tokunbo (fairly used) part to replace it.
“At times, some customers would give me their cars to work on but Femi would advise me to sell it. He later started supplying me cars and jeeps snatched by his gang to sell. I became a receiver of stolen vehicles.
“Unfortunately, the new business I found myself doing dragged me into a lot of police cases. This affected my job as a panel beater. Hence, I abandoned the job and sold my house and other belongings in order to survive. When life became too difficult for me, I joined the gang and started going to robbery operations with them.”
Asked how many vehicles he received from Femi before joining the gang, he said: “It was the devil who made me an armed robber and receiver of stolen cars. Somebody in our village made the charm against me to become a criminal. What happened to me was not ordinary. I was doing well but suddenly, I became a liar, cheating my customers. I became a receiver of stolen goods and eventually joined the gang.
“In fact, I joined two gangs. The vehicles I received included Toyota Camry, which I sold for N200,000, and Toyota Muscle, which I sold for N600,000. I also received a 4-Runner Jeep from Kazeem and resold it for N450,000. My gain here was N50,000. Kazeem, known also as Baba Ope or Naira, is still at large.
“I also sold a Toyota Highlander for N500,000 and gave the money to Kazeem, but till date, he did not give me a dime. He promised to give me the balance when I brought another car. I later brought a Hyundai and he gave me N30,000 only. I gave him a Rav4 which was sold for N350,000, but I was given only N20,000.
Asked how he was arrested, he said: “Femi was first arrested by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Lagos State Police Command. He led them to my house and they saw me and arrested me.”
The second suspect, Seye Oyewale a.k.a. Sheyi Campus (27), who hails from Osogbo, Osun State, said: “I am happily married with a set of twins. I was a member of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) before I became an armed robber. But we don’t use real guns. We operated with fake guns and master keys.”
Explaining how he joined a robbery gang, he said: “I was called by one guy called Alaba to follow him to Ifako Ijaiye area (Lagos) to rob in November last year. We were three in number, namely myself, Isa Adegbenro from Ogun State and Alaba. I reside at No. 5, Adara Martin Street, Agbelekale area, Oke-Odo.
“When we reached Ifako at about 9 pm, we collected a Toyota Camry car parked by the road side. When the owner saw us and came to stop us, I used the fake gun to scare him away and zoomed off with his car. The man was forced out of the car and Isa drove it. We took the car to Afeez Ibrahim and he paid N150,000. I was given only N30,000 when the money was shared.
“The second operation occurred at Oko-Oba Road. We snatched a Toyota Muscle car. The owner left the key at the ignition and went to buy something nearby. We took it to Afeez and collected N400,000, but I was not given a dime for my efforts. Isa gave the whole N400,000 to Afeez.
“When I confronted Isa, he told me that Alaba collected my money for me. Alaba is still at large. Alaba is the gang leader and we operate at the Oko-Oba axis in Lagos.
“I was the one who sold a Samsung handset to Sunday for N3,000. He was our regular handset buyer and receiver, but he did not follow us to operations. We heard that he had been charged to court because he was using the handset he bought from me and SARS operatives tracked him down.”
The third suspect, Kayode Quadri (37), an indigene of Ilorin, Kwara State and resident of Oke Otaona, Ikorodu, said he was a driver at a secondary school in Otaona on a monthly salary of N25,000 before he joined the robbery gang.
He said: “I joined the robbery gang because my salary was too poor. How can I manage N25,000? If I were a commercial bus driver or trailer driver, I would be getting more than N50,000 every month. If you see the insult I receive from teachers as a school driver, you would pity me.
“When I joined the gang, my role was to drive them to points of operation and bring them back. I still go to school to drive, depending on the time we fixed our robbery operation.”
On how he joined the suspects, he said: “I know Saidi, Naira and Sharpman. We used to smoke Indian hemp at the same joint. One Sunday, I followed Sharpman and Naira to do one job (armed robbery) at Adama side, Ikorodu. I was their driver.
“After robbing some people we had met on the road, we saw one man in a Toyota Highlander and stopped him, dragged him out and zoomed off with his car. I was not paid a dime until I was arrested by operatives of SARS. That happened this January.
“We drove a Honda Civic car to the robbery scene and snatched the Highlander. Afeez was both the receiver and one of the strikers. I was not given a dime because they told me that the Highlander jeep had not been sold. I was told that they were going to snatch a vehicle before I joined them. So, I was not forced to become a part of the action.”
The fourth suspect, Isa Adegbenro a (27) from Abeokuta, Ogun State, who resides at 25, Musiliu Street, Agege, said he was an auto mechanic and driver. He said: “I am happily married with two children. I live in Oko Oba. SARS operatives arrested Seye and they used him to arrest me. I don’t know these people. They belong to another gang entirely. I belong to Alaba’s gang, though the police has not arrested Alaba. He is still our great gang leader.
“Other members of our gang are Seye and Isa. We are a three-man gang and we operate around the Oko-Oba axis. There was a time we snatched a Toyota Camry and sold it for N150,000 to Afeez. I got only N35,000. We also snatched an Orobo Toyota Camry, the one they call Toyota Muscle, and sold it for N400,000. I got N100,000.
“I had my workshop at Pleasure Bus stop area, very close to Ile-Epo market before the owners of the land demolished our workshop and built a residential building and shops there. When I was chased away from there, I had no alternative but to join this gang in order to survive.
“I vow that I will never operate with real gun because I had no intention of killing my victims. We used to use master keys and fake guns. Alaba is the gang leader and he does not use a gun. He uses master keys.”
The fifth suspect, 27-year-old Saidi Adebayo, who hails from Itamaga village, Ikorodu Lagos State, is married with a nine-month old baby. He said: “I am a plumber. I also dig borehole. I was on a playground in Itamaga area one evening when Kazeem came to meet me. He asked why I had decided to suffer like my father who did security work, because I was doing a security job at Mowonla.
“It was there that I knew Kazeem, Afeez and Quadri, a wonderful native doctor. They asked me to follow them to do one job. I asked them what job but they said they would tell me the next day. They only said it was a job that would give me quick and big money. The next day, he told me that the job was about collecting vehicles from people. I left in anger. He later called me on the phone but I refused to pick his call.
“He came later and asked why I refused to pick his calls and I told him that he said I should join them to collect people’s cars and I could not do such a thing as a security man who was well known in the area. The Police later arrested me and I told them that I had resigned from armed robbery but I could still lead them to those who were still doing the job.
“I met Kazeem, Alfa, Sharpman and Afeez about one and a half years ago. I had once followed them to snatch a car, but the car had an accident, which led to their arrest. They were charged to court and sent to Ikoyi Prison. I ran to Ugheli in Delta State and stayed with a tailor friend named Tony for some time. I came back when my wife gave birth to a baby boy. I resigned from armed robbery job and faced private security work at Mowanla land.
“So, tell them that I am innocent because I did not participate in this case. The Police declared me wanted when they charged my colleagues then. How can I be arrested because I was once an armed robber? I have repented. Let them release me.”
The sixth suspect, Femi Ashiru (36), said he was a car dealer with his stand, FM Motors, in Ikorodu, Lagos State.
He said: “I have an auto stand at Ikorodu. It is called FM Motors. I reside at Igbogbo Bayoku Road, Ikorodu.”
Asked how he got his supplies, he said: “I do go to Cotonou to buy vehicles and resell in Nigeria. My sister, Mrs Dupe Fakua, who is based in France, also sends cars to me to sell.”
On when he started patronising car snatchers and armed robbers, he said: “I met Sharpman, Afeez and Ibrahim through a guy called Wale Polo, who is in detention right now for selling and receiving stolen cars from Sharpman. I knew Sharpman as a panel beater also.
One day, he told me that a customer for whom he normally repaired cars used to bring cars for sale and they were very cheap. I told him that if it was the kind I liked, I would buy. He later brought one RAV4 jeep and I looked at the vehicle, tested it and found it okay. I paid him N450,000.
“There were documents in the vehicle. The particulars were pasted on the windscreen. The insurance and road worthiness papers were all originals while other documents were in photocopies. He promised to bring the original copies of those ones later.
“He also brought a 4Runner and I paid him N700,000, though it had no registration number or vehicle particulars. But he said it was not snatched. Another one he brought was a Toyota Camry car and I paid him N450,000. He later brought a Hyundai Santate jeep and I paid him N650,000.
“He also brought a Toyota Camry 2010 model and I paid him N950,000. Although that one had no particulars, he assured me that it was genuine. He later confessed to me that the Camry 2010 model was snatched. Therefore, when he brought a Highlander Jeep, I refused to buy it. I told him to take it away, but instead of taking it away, he went and parked it at my house and said he would remove it later. He covered it with tarpaulin.
“When policemen arrested me in my office, I told them on our way to the police station that there was one jeep that was parked in my house, which I had told them to come and take away but they refused, and I could not report them to the police because they are dangerous with guns.”
He said he later took the police to Sharpman, the supplier of the vehicles’ house and he was arrested in his house at Agufoye area, a new site in Ikorodu. He was the only member of the gang he claimed to know.