A 27 -year -old man, arrested by the operatives of the Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State Police Command along with seven others for robbing passers-by in Ojota, Ketu and Mile 12 at night has disclosed that he has lost count of the number of people that he had robbed in those areas.
The suspect, Dapo Simeon, a trained bricklayer from Oyo State told the police that he started with pickpocketing more than three years ago before graduating into robbery.
It was learnt that the victim specializes in stealing phones, jewelry and money.
According to him, “I can’t remember the number of phones I have stolen and collected from passers-by in Ojota, Ketu and Mile 12. I was trained by Olasege and later Femi. Both of them are my bosses. They live in Idi–Oro at Mushin, area. They taught me how to steal,” the suspect claimed.
Dapo added “I sell all the phones I stole at night or the previous day to Baba Iyabo. He comes to Down Blow area in Mile 12 to collect the phones and jewellery very early in the morning”,
Simeon and his colleagues were arrested last Thursday morning after two young women had reported to RRS Monitors attached to Ojota that they were robbed the previous night at MKO Garden near Ojota. It was further gathered that following the reported, the RRS operatives followed the women to the scene of the robbery where they met two men, John Obinna and Sunday Ugwu.
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The officers, after interviewing and searching the duo saw suspected stolen phones and an unused sim card, which was traced to its original owner, Mr Adebayo Ogunleye.
Mr Ogunleye in his statement at the RRS Headquarters, Alausa explained that he was waylaid by an assailant between Ojota and Mile 12.
He stated that the robber in trying to collect his two phones, matcheted and head-butted him before surrendering his phones (Microsoft Lumia 535 & Tecno T5) and wallet containing BVN Card, First Bank verve card and MasterCard among others.
“It was God’s intervention that I was not killed that night as I was struggling for survival, drinking my own blood before I was able to cross to the other side of the road and escape”, he noted.
The arrest of John Obinna and Sunday Ugwu by the operatives prompted the arrest of six other suspects, identified as: Dapo Simeon, Chinonso Onnogo, Chuka Eze, Kadir Afolabi, Segun Pascal and David Bassey.
They all confessed to have been robbing people at night in Ojota, Ketu and Mile 12.
According to the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officers, Dolapo Badmos, who confirmed the arrest of the suspect explained that all the suspects have confessed to the offence and they have given the police useful statement that would assist in their investigation.