The police in Lagos state has arrested two suspected robbers, who allegedly specialised in attacking hotels and raiding lodgers in the state.
The suspects, Kayode Johnson, 30 aka Badoo and Sheriff Owolabi, 28, confessed to be members of an eight-man syndicate, New Telegraph reports.
They reportedly attack hotels after tip-offs from insiders, raid guests’ rooms and dispossess lodgers of their valuables.
Confessing to the crime, Johnson said, “Once we approach a hotel, we would bring out guns and threaten those outside and they would take us into the hotel.
“We would spread out and each of us would start raiding rooms and lodgers. Whatever you get during that operation, is yours for the keeping,” he said.
The 30-year-old robbery suspect was, however, arrested while heading for an operation at a new hotel in the metropolis.
According to him, three of them were supposed to go for the operation, but just as he was going to meet others at a designated venue, he saw some policemen and panicked.
He said, “The policemen noticed my suspicious movements and ordered me to stop, so I quickly dropped the gun with me into the gutter and the policemen didn’t notice. I bought the gun myself for N20,000.
“Although the policemen did not find anything incriminating on me, they said they sensed I was a bad guy, so they took me to the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad, FSARS, Ikeja.
“Unfortunately, when we got there, my said face was on the list of one of the most wanted criminals,” he sobbed.
When asked how long he had been into ‘robbery’ business, Johnson said, “I have participated in robbery of two hotels. I started robbery three years ago.”
Johnson added that his greatest haul was the robbery of an Indian national on Awolowo Way, Ikeja.
He recounted, “We robbed a white man at Ikeja. We broke the man’s door and went inside while he was sleeping. We woke him up and robbed him of his dollars.
“After robbing the white man, we went to lodge at Shugus Hotel, at Mushin. My lover knew I was a robber. She used to beg me to stop robbery.”
“But my girlfriend stole the dollars from me. She came to meet me after the operation. It was my partner that told her that we got dollars from the operation.
“We slept together that night. I woke up in the morning to discover that she had fled with my dollars. Since then, I had not set eyes on her.
“We stole 34 pieces of $100 bills and shared it. I took 19 pieces and gave my colleague 18 pieces.
The suspect said he had always wanted to quit, but found it difficult.
He said: “I had wanted to stop, I prayed to God, but I continued. I wasn’t enjoying it. If I’m allowed to go, I wouldn’t rob again.”
Johnson was said to have mentioned the names of other members of the gang, including Owolabi.
Police went after others, but only succeeded in apprehending Owolabi.
Owolabi, who was angry with Johnson for daring to mention his name, said “I went with him to rob only three times. I stopped going with them, I am surprised he mentioned my name to the police because this time around, I didn’t even commit any crime. They just came to my area to arrest me.
“I quit crime in January. I didn’t go to Iju-Ishaga robbery with them.”
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, CP, Fatai Owoseni, on Friday said some items were recovered from the criminals and that investigations were ongoing to arrest the fleeing members of the syndicate.
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