Aug. 19, 2021

The Police Command in Ogun on Thursday said it arrested four suspects who specialised in robbing and killing Point of Sale (POS) and Uber operators in the state.

The Command’s Public Relation Officer (PPRO), DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said this in a statement made available to newsmen in Ota, Ogun.

Oyeyemi said the detectives of Ogun State Police Command arrested the four members of the syndicate, whose names he gave as Kehinde Jelili, Abiodun Akinola, Johnson Fakeye and Jamiu Akinola.

He said they were arrested following a report lodged at Onipanu Divisional Headquarters, on the April 18, by one Aanu Salaudeen.

He said Salaudeen, who identified herself as a POS attendant to one Abiodun Odebunmi, a POS operator, said her boss left his office at Aparadija, the previous day, to meet a customer with cash of N4 million to be used for POS transaction.

She added that Odebunmi, her boss, had not been seen since then, and that all calls made to his mobile phone had not gone through.

She explained that they had done a transaction of N1.5 million with the person the previous day.

She said it was the same person, who called her boss to meet him at Ojuore to do another POS transaction of N4 million.

“Upon the report, the policemen at Onipanu commenced investigation into the sudden disappearance of the man.

“Their efforts paid off when the dead and burnt body of the victim was discovered in an uncompleted building at Arobieye area of Ota without the trace of his assailants.

“The case was transferred to homicide section of the state criminal investigation and intelligence department on the order of the Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun,” said Oyeyemi.

He said Ajogun mandated the homicide team to unravel the perpetrators of the dastardly act within the shortest possible period.

“The CSP Femi Olabode led homicide team, in compliance with the CP’s directive, embarked on technical and intelligence-based investigation, which led them to Otun Ekiti, in Ekiti State, where the suspect was discovered to be hibernating.

“On getting to Ekiti, the suspect got wind of the presence of the detectives and quickly escaped to Offa in Kwara,” said Oyeyemi.

He added that with determination to apprehend him, the team continued trailing him, and later got information that he was in Benin Republic, where he had gone to attend the court session of Chief Sunday Adeyemo.

“Having gotten the information about the day he will be returning to Nigeria, the team laid ambush for him and got him arrested at the boundary between Ogun and Lagos State,” he said.

Oyeyemi said during the interrogation, Jeili, who claimed to be a native of Apomu in Osun confessed to killing the victim.

The PPRO said he confessed further that he deliberately lured the victim to Ota where they were waiting for him with the money he was asked to bring, having transacted a N1.5 million business with him the previous day, and that they macheted him to death after collecting the money from him.

Oyeyemi stated further that the suspects burnt the victim’s body in order to cover their tracks.

He said Jelili confessed further that their victims were always Uber and POS operators.

According to him, one of them would pretend as passenger to the Uber driver, and will lure such a driver to where his members are waiting, and as soon as he gets to the place, the driver will be hacked to death and the car taken away.

Also, the suspect stated further that he and his gang attacked another victim, one Idowu Ademiluyi, at Itori, snatching his Toyota Corolla car, having macheted him to death.

The arrest of Jelili led the detectives to Akinola, who is a standby buyer of every proceed of their crime.

The confessional statements of the duo led to the arrest of the other two suspects, Fakeye and Jamiu at Atan Ota and Owode Yewa, respectively.

One Toyota Camry, one Toyota Corolla and one Toyota Rave 4, whose owners had been gruesomely murdered, were recovered from the gang.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, who was full of praise for the team for the painstaking investigation, which lasted for almost three months, directed that the last member of the devilish gang must be arrested.

He, therefore, appealed to members of the public to always disclose their movement to at least one trusted person, whenever they have cause to keep appointment with unknown persons.

The CP also directed that the suspects be charged to court as soon as investigation was concluded.