An armed robbery gang who specialize in dressing up as
women and robbing unsuspecting victims have been
arrested by the Oyo State police Command. They were
paraded recently where they told their stories. Vanguard
reports
An unsuspecting womanizer would easily fall into
their traps seeing their feminine faces made-up with
cosmetics, with weave-on hairdo that dangles on
both sides of their broad shoulders.
Their coated lips look inviting. No doubt, countless
men must have fallen prey to them. Many passersby
who thronged the state headquarters of the Police
command at Eleiyele, Ibadan to catch a glimpse of
these attractive “women” could not hide their
disbelief.
Though, their chests were flat which should convince
doubting Thomases that the suspects were not
women, some still insisted on seeing their private
parts due to their looks.
But, behind these deceptive looks are more than meets the
ordinary eye. The hearts of both Omooba Oyewole and
Lawal Kabir are fortified with cold steel. They are
suspected dare-devil robbers. If they have conscience, it
must be made of solid concrete.
One of the suspects, Lawal Kabir whose eyelids blink
momentarily like a doll in the old Kingsway Store claims to
be a devout Muslim and considers only Fridays and the
Ramadan period as sacred days in the whole year when he
thinks he should not engage in armed robbery.
These days, especially Fridays, he said, he would go to the
mosque to pray to God to forgive all his criminal
tendencies only to continue his devilish acts thereafter. In
fact, the suspect said he was arrested on Friday after
observing the Jumat prayers.
Given their looks, one needed no soothsayer to discern that
the suspects had carried out numerous deadly attacks on
their victims even though they admitted to have
participated in no fewer than four successful robbery
operations.
According to them, they had made people cry in places like
Osun, Sawmill, Iyana-Agbala and other places when they
unleashed terror on them. Knowing their days of reckoning
had finally come, the eight-man gang confessed some of
the crimes they had committed to Crime Alert .
Ayodele Olaitan, who wore a mask, one of the tools they
use in their nefarious activities shook his head in regret
and said: “It was my friends that pushed me into this. I
joined the gang sometime ago and I have participated in at
least three robbery operations.
I am not the owner of the mask you see on me. It belongs
to one of us called pastor. He is dead now. I regret all my
actions. I didn’t realize we could be caught. But, now the
game is up, “ he said as he burst into tears.
Like other criminals, Lawal Kabir said he was pushed into
the criminal world as a result of an unsuccessful business
venture. “I took to robbery when my plumbing work was
not booming.
Three years after my freedom as an apprentice, I tried all I
could to make both ends meet, but things did not work for
me. I first stayed in Lagos before I later came to Ibadan
where I was introduced to a gang of armed robbers. I have
participated in four armed robbery attacks.
I went with them to Osun State, Ibadan, Sawmill and Iyana
-Agbala. I was arrested on Friday after I finished praying in
the mosque. Somebody we call a pastor, also a member of
the gang called me without knowing the police had already
arrested him.
I don’t rob on Fridays and during Ramadan. I used those
periods to pray to God to forgive me my sins. I know what I
was doing was wrong but it was difficult for me to break
away from it.”
Another member of the gang, Biola Alaba who wore a
weave-on hairdo said they were eight in number and that
they were arrested at a drinking joint while preparing to
carry out a robbery operation at Bodija area of the city. He
denied ever killing any of their victims.
“How can I commit two sins at the same time. I cannot rob
and kill at the same time. It is unfair to rob someone of his
belongings and kill him. We don’t even rape our victims, “
he said.
As for Sunday Omooba from Ogbomoso who says he is a
member of the Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, he narrated
how he took charge of the armoury for the gang. “I helped
them get bullets through one man. I just call the man any
time I need bullets for the gang.
I don’t rob with them. In fact, I did not know that they were
using the bullets to rob. I also supplied that pump action
gun to them. I bought the gun for N70,000 from a friend. If I
knew that they would use the weapons for robbery, I would
not give them.”
The Investigating Police Officer in charge of the case
alleged that Omooba supplied the pump action gun and
killed the owner of the gun so that he could get the gun
from him and did not give the money he promised to give
him.
Other suspects who are car snatchers including those who
bought the stolen vehicles from them were also arrested in
Kaduna and Kano. Two of the suspects, Dolapo Olayinka
and Yusuf Ibrahim, robber and accomplice respectively;
gave their own accounts. Olayinka said he only used his
commercial motorcycle to convey the robbers who
dispossessed people of their items. He recalled how they
crossed a woman’s vehicle and took N20,000 from her at
gun point.
The owners of the stolen vehicles were at the police
command to identify their vehicles. All of them pleaded
anonymity for fear of being attacked by yet-to-be-
identified members of the gang.
One of them said his car, a Toyota Camry, was snatched at
gunpoint on October 1, last year around 8pm and he
reported at the Special Anti robbery squad.
He specifically commended the efforts of one SP Sola
Aremu, the O/C SARS, Ogbomoso and his boys for going
ahead to recover the car. He said: “I am full of thanks to
the police. I never thought I could recover my car again.
The SARS in Ogbomoso acted promptly. I have never seen
police work like that.”
The State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mohammed
Indabawa said, “sequel to tip-offs about a criminal hideout
at a mechanic village, Iyana Church, Ibadan, a raid was
organized and SARS operatives arrested the following
suspected armed robbers: Olaitan Ayodele, Abiola Alaba,
Oyewole Ogunwole, Adedeji Mustapha, Omooba Oyewole
and Adedeji Mustapha. On interrogation, they all confessed
to their past and present crimes within and outside Oyo
State. They also confessed to have attacked and robbed
two police officers.
All the people they confessed to have robbed were
contacted and they corroborated their confessions.
In order to recover some of their loot as well as arms and
ammunition, a search was conducted in the house of the
leader of the gang, one Ayodele Olaitan along Airport Road,
Ibadan and the following exhibits were recovered; one
pump action gun, one English cut-to-size double barrel
gun, one single-barrel gun, locally made cylinders and
many others.
Culled from Vanguard
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