Two persons have been arrested by operatives of the Special Anti -Robbery Squad (SARS), Lagos Police Command, for alleged car theft.
They were arrested at Ojuelegba, Lagos Mainland, on August 18, following a tip-off.
The suspects – Musbao Ayinde (25) and Isiaka Afolabi (28) – are from Offa in Kwara State.
Ayinde, a technician resides at 2, Oko Oba Street, Ebute Meta, Lagos Mainland; Isiaka Afolabi (28), washes cars at Costain.
Police sources said the suspects operated around Ifo in Ogun State for about three years, but were caught when they attempted to operate in Lagos.
Two locally made guns were recovered from them.
A source said penultimate Thursday, the suspects hit a victim with gun butt before snatching his car.
“The man passed out and was dumped at a nearby bush where he was found and taken to hospital by passersby. It was at the hospital that he was revived”, the source said.
The victim was said to have taken his case to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police when there was no swift response to his distress call by police in the area.
The Decoy One led by the Officer in Charge of SARS, Abba Kyari, a Superintendent of Police (SP) swung into action and arrested the suspects with their guns.
Ayinde told The Nation: “We are car snatchers. We used gun to intimidate our victims. We never intended to shoot them. We prefer to run away than to fire a victim.
“I have only operated around Ifo in Ogun State twice. It was the operation on the Third Mainland Bridge that put us in this trouble. It was greed that made us come to Lagos State to rob and snatch vehicles despite the high risk involved.”
“I was asked to come and collect money by the buyer of one of the cars we snatched not knowing that he was with the police. When I got there, I was arrested after collecting N150,000 from the buyer,” he said.
Afolabi said: “I became a car snatcher because of my mother’s death and the bad poverty ravaging my family. My father is alive, but he could not solve the family’s financial problem.
“It was Ayinde who asked me to follow him to go and collect money for a vehicle sold to one of our buyers. Whe we got there, policemen arrested us. I have operated only three times. In the first operation I got N35,000; the second, I got nothing and from the third, I got N30,000. It was Ayinde’s arrest that led to mine.”
Assistant Police Public Relations Officer, Lelma Kolle, an Assistant Superintendent (ASP), said the suspects were being interrogated as efforts were ongoing to arrest other armed robbery gangs connected to them. He said they would soon be charged to court.
