Four suspected robbers arrested in Ondo

Operatives of Ondo State Police Command have arrested four suspected robbers in different areas of the state. 

Three of the suspects, Victor Bright, 21, AbdulRahim Mohammed, 22 and Friday Emmanuel, 27, who are members of a notorious armed robbery syndicate, were arrested in Owo, in Owo Local Government Area of the state, after snatching a boxer motorcycle and a mobile phone.

The fourth suspect, Mohammed Sule, 23, was arrested for invading and robbing some houses in the Shasha area of Akure, the state capital.

Confessing the crime, the leader of the gang, Bright said that the robbery was their first operation, adding that the motorcycle and the phone were sold for N130,000, while one of them ran away and escaped arrest.

“I was arrested at Owo three weeks ago for snatching a boxer motorcycle. Last week Friday, we were transferred to SCID,” he said. 

“After my friends and I stole the bike from a commercial motorcyclist who is a Hausa man, we sold it to one man at Elegbeka. We also sold the phone we stole from the okada man to the same person.

“I told the okada man to carry me from Ikare junction to another location in Owo. On getting to an uncompleted building, I put a rope on his neck. When he was trying to struggle, the three others came out from where they were hiding. We overpowered him and collected the bike but we did not kill him.

“The phone was tracked to the person we sold it to and that was how we were arrested. Four of us were involved in the robbery but the fourth person ran away when we were arrested.

“We sold the bike and the phone for N130,000. The four of us shared the money. We have finished spending the money. I learnt tailoring but at times I do engage in bricklaying jobs. That was my first time engaging in a robbery operation.” 

On his part, Mohammed confessed that he went into crime to survive and start a business.

“I got to Akure last month from Kogi State. On getting to Akure, I could not locate my sister who I had planned to stay with,” he said. 

“When I could not get anywhere to stay, I decide to go to Ogbese. When I got there, I was sleeping inside a mosque there. I was later chased from the mosque. After I was chased, I went to Shasha. When I was finding it difficult to survive, I started stealing.

“The very day I was caught, I had planned to raise money for a business. I went to two houses and at one of them, I was attacked by a man in the house when he noticed that I was the only one. That was how I was arrested.”

Spokesperson of the state police command, SP Funmi Odunlami, said the suspects will be charged to court upon conclusion of investigations.