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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