Police Smash Five-Man Robbery Gang In Lagos (Photo)

THE Lagos State Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) has smashed a five-man armed robbery gang. Four members of the gang were arrested and their leader simply named Lekan reportedly escaped.

The suspects are Tayo Abiola, 36 from Ikale Village in Ondo State, Bala Shaibu, 33, from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, Tayo Olajide, 25, from Osun village in Ekiti State and Jessi Garba, 36 from Damboa village in Borno State.

According to the police the five-man armed robbery gang went to rob in Ajah and branched elsewhere to share their loot when SARS operatives swooped on them.

Garba confessed to the crime, saying: “We were five in number. We went there to rob but police came and arrested four of us. It is only our gang leader Lekan that escaped. My role is to beat up stubborn victims”.

Olajide said: “I am a barber and the owner of the hotel where the gang members usually lodge. They have not given me a dime since I knew them. My role is simply to provide accommodation for the gang”.
Shaibu claimed to be a taxi driver, saying he used to follow Garba on patrol as friends not knowing that he was an armed robber.

On why he could not leave when he found out that they were robbers, he said it was too late to do because it could cost him his life. He said he is the gang’s operational driver.

Abiola said their victims included one Navy Captain Overt and one Omobolanle Babatunde and that the operation was carried out on July 20 at Ilaje Ajah.

Abiola said his younger brother, Sunday, was an armed robber.

He said he was with Sunday’s gang when the police arrested them while sharing their loot.

He said he was arrested along with them, adding that a gang member was shot dead in a gun duel with the police.

Source: TheNation