The Lagos State Police Command has said it was on the trail of some members of a robbery syndicate who allegedly specialized in breaking into shops in the Alaba International Market in the state.
The Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, SP Dolapo Badmos, disclosed this on Wednesday.
The PPRO told newsmen at the state police headquarters that four of the suspects, who stole the goods, and three of the receivers were arrested based on intelligence report.
“Effort is on to apprehend the fleeing ones and to recover the remaining stolen goods,” Badmus said while parading the apprehended suspects, noting that about 100 cartons out of the 427 cartons they made away with, which is worth N19.1m, had been recovered from the suspects.
On their modus operandi, the suspects –Tochukwu Akorisa, Ndubuise Egwuatuonwu, Ifeanyi Eze and Aboi Rufus, explained how they attacked a warehouse in the market, stealing 427 cartons of electric bulbs valued at N19.1m.
They said they destroyed padlocks of their target shops by pouring acid on them.
Luck ran out on them after a shop owner caught one Tona Nwenyi at the point of selling the stolen goods.
The shop owner reported the incident to the police, leading to Nwenyi’s arrest.
Detectives attached to the State Commissioner of Police X-Squad subsequently arrested the gang leader, Akorisa after he (Nwenyi) led them to him.
Akorisa, in his confession before newsmen said, “I load goods in the market, but the money I earned was not enough for me to take care of my sick mother.
“I led the operation. We used acid to break the padlock of the warehouse. We went around 9.30pm on that day,” the 26-year-old added.
The second suspect, Egwuatuonwu, said, “It was Akorisa who facilitated the sales of the loot.
“I was promised N250, 000 from the deal but I have not got anything before the police arrested me,” he added.
Rufus said, “This is my first time. My house rent has expired and I had been living with my friends. I want to rent an apartment. I was thinking of how to get money when Tochukwu (Akorisa) suggested that we rob the warehouse. We stole only 150 cartons of bulbs.”
One of the receivers, Nwenyi, said he wanted to return the bulbs to Akorisa, having discovered they were stolen, when he was arrested.
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