By OKOSUN OKHUELEIGBE
As the operatives of the Rapid Response Squad intensify efforts at reducing crime in the metropolis, policemen from the unit at the weekend arrested a suspected teenage armed robber and Indian hemp smoker.
The suspect, Ibraheem Taiwo, (17), was arrested at Iddo, Lagos around 8:00 pm on Saturday, with another accomplice, Abdullah, (still at large) attempted to rob a tricycle rider popularly known as “Marwa”.
Ibraheem, who confessed to be the brain behind the robbery stated that Abdullah used a jack knife to dispossess a tricyclist, Okeke Chibuk, of his two mobile phones, money and other valuables.
According to Ibraheem, Abdullah was at the point of escaping when he spotted RRS operatives before he decided to drop the two mobile phones and a Jack knife.
The victim of the botched robbery operation , Okeke Chibuk emphasized that it was Ibraheem that led the two – man robbery gang that dispossessed him of his belongings with the aid of a jack knife.
The suspect, a secondary school drop-out turned vulcanizer explained that he followed a friend, Abdullah, out to Iddo.
“I was standing trying to board a tricycle to Oyingbo when I heard the shout of thief, thief. I saw Abdullahi dropped handsets and a jack knife, I picked them up. That was how RRS operatives arrested me.”
“I have been learning vulcanizing for over six years, and am preparing for my freedom. It was Abdullah, my friend that robbed. He dropped the phone and the jack knife when he was being chased. I only picked them up to defend myself”.
“Abdullah is a friend and a sweeper in Oyingbo. I know where he lives. He is the one that put me into this problem. I only followed him to Iddo”, he added.
In another incident , Sola Adetona, a vulcanizer was on the same day arrested behind Bobby Benson house, Onipanu.
Adetona, 28, a native of Ibadan said, ‘I was in a joint when I was arrested. I smoke weed to stimulate myself and to make myself work better.
I live in Mushin and I was arrested around 5.p.m. I want to plead for mercy. I am not married but I have impregnated a lady”.
Confirming the arrest, the Lagos state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Joe Offor said the suspects would be charged to court for prosecution.