A dismissed soldier, Isiaka Abubakar, 34, was on Thursday morning paraded in Ibadan alongside an accomplice, Saheed Akangbe, 24, by the Oyo State Police Command for robbing an owner of a Toyota Camry with registration number KJA 89 ER.
The state Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Odude, said Abubakar was dismissed from 1 Division of the Nigerian Army for various criminal activities.
Items recovered from them, according to the police boss, include three cut to size guns, 25 live cartridges and expended cartridges.
Odude said that the operation of the robbery gang was coordinated by an inmate of Ibara prison in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Ismaila Adeosun, and that Akangbe was an ex-convict who was released from Abolongo prison in April this year.
Odude said: “Until their arrest, the two suspects belonged to a dare devil armed robbery gang which specialised in snatching posh cars in Lagos, Ogun, Oyo and neighbouring states. The robbery operations were often coordinated by Adeosun who is serving jail term in Ibara prison in Abeokuta. They were arrested by a patrol team from Iyana Offa police station on September 22, 2017 at about 2.15am.
“Further investigation led to the recovery of another Toyota Camry car with number plate AGL 45 CW in Abeokuta which was also snatched from its owner. They will be charged to court as soon as possible.”
Speaking to journalists, Abubakar said he spent eight years in the army and that he was dismissed as a Lance Corporal. He said he had participated in peace mission in Sudan and that he was drafted to Borno State as part of the soldiers taking part in the war against insurgents in the area after his return.
He added: “After our return from Sudan, our commandant said we were still gallant so he drafted us to confront Boko Haram in Borno State. Twenty four of us were drafted there but many of them died so I went on AWOL. I relocated to Lagos and that was where I met the gang. I left my ammunition in Borno.
|I only went to Lagos with my uniform. My major task for the gang was to escort snatched vehicles with the uniform. I did not take part in the robbery or shooting.
“On the day we were arrested, we were coming from Lagos with the car. We entered Ibadan late in the night and decided to sleep in the car because we could not get the address of the place we were going and it was dark. We were in the car when police caught up with us. The car has a tracker which they used to locate us.”
No comments:
Post a Comment