A police inspector and a soldier attached to 2 Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army, Herbert Mbachu (55 ), and Corporal Sikiru Balogun (46), and seven others have been arrested by the Oyo state Police Command for alleged various armed robbery operations in Ibadan and other major towns in the state.
Other suspects who were said to be specialized in hijacking fuel-laden trucks on highways were the leader of the gang, Johnson Precious (45), Lawal Olalekan (26), Sodiq Onifade (26), Timothy Ayodele (53), Oluwadare Segun (30), Gabriel Olanrewaju (39), and Gbadegesin Olawale (45).
Addressing newsmen at the Eleyele Police Headquarters, Ibadan on Wednesday, Commissioner of Police in Oyo State, Mr Abiodun Odude listed as items recovered from the suspects to include the sum of N1.2million cash, two Honda Accord cars with registration numbers AKD 74 BH , and LSD 680 ES , and one Nokia C-200 cell phone.
Odude noted that until their arrest, the suspects had operated in Ojoo, Iwo Road, Lagos-Ibadan expressway and other parts of the state, snatching trucks conveying petroleum product to various destinations across the country.
“From 2016 till date , no fewer than six of such trucks had been hijacked by this notorious gang whose members include a dismissed police inspector and a soldier both whom often operated using the military camouflage and police uniform.
“In one of their latest operations , the suspects on April 4, 2017 at about 0800 hours waylaid a fuel laden DAF tanker with registration number APC 937 XB at a bad portion of the road in Salsa , Ojoo area of the state and snatched the vehicle with thirty-three thousand litres of petroleum from the driver whom they abducted to an unknown destination but was dropped off afterwards.
“Discreet investigation carried out by the Special Anti-robbery Squad led to the arrest of one of the suspects , Sodiq Onifade , from whom the victim’s handset was recovered. His arrest and subsequent confession led to the arrest of other members of gang at their various criminal hideouts.”
Odude, however, said that about 34 suspected armed robbers were arrested in the past two weeks in the state.
Paraded also by the Commissioner of police was the alleged leader of a six man gang of kidnappers, Mohammed Abdullahi (29) who confessed to be responsible for the abduction of an Ibadan-based popular oil magnate , the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Bovas Oil and Gas Limited sometimes in 2016 .
Among the suspects involved in the kidnap of the Ibadan based oil magnate Abubakar Mohammed (35), Umoru Abubakar (32) , Ogun Aremu ( 35), Mutairu Mohammed (30), and Tambaya Tukura (29).
The Police boss explained that the kidnap kingpin was arrested by the Federal Special Anti-robbery Squad in his criminal hideout in Ilesa Baruba, Kwara state.
“The kingpin, upon his arrest confessed to have led series of robbery and kidnap operations on several occasions within the state. One of the victims of the gang was an Ibadan based popular oil magnate , the MD/CEO of Bovas Oil and Gas Ltd. who was kidnapped in 2016 and an undisclosed ransom collected from her family before being released from captivity.
“The gang also kidnapped and eventually killed another victim, Alhaji Saliu Sale along Ago-Are , Saki after collecting a staggering ransom of six million naira from victim’s relations”.
Also paraded was a 20 year-old Ibrahim Aliyu Babatunde, who allegedly masterminded the kidnap of his own father.
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