The Nigeria Police Force has asked Nigerians to be wary of suspicious movements of strange persons around them and in their vicinities, saying robbery suspects now loiter and spy on their targets before attacks.
The police said the charge became necessary following confessions by some robbery suspects recently arrested by the Osun State Police Command on their modus operandi.
According to the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Yemisi Opalola, the command apprehended no fewer than 10 robbery suspects terrorizing residents of Osun, adding that they disclosed that they lived among their targets for days, discovering their movements before striking.
Parading the suspects, Opalola said, “We can only continue to call on our people to be more security conscious and be concerned about the strange faces they see in their environments. Robbery attacks don’t just happen nowadays, criminals take their time to study the environment and their targets before striking.
“The ones we arrested had to even connect themselves from Kogi State and some others came from Lagos State to commit crimes in Osun. When they come, the first thing they will do is to spy the whole area, Ede, and other environments, they will go about the entire area searching for good vehicles to be stolen, they will later return to where they are hibernating, rest and wait to strike at night. They will attack homes and rob people of their vehicles. After robbing them, they will deliver the vehicles to those that sent them and on their way, whenever they see motorists they rob them also. Whenever they have gone to sell, they may even see some vehicles there and rob them. That is how they have been operating and we want Nigerians to be aware of these tactics and take caution.”
“These ones (the suspects) we arrested have been terrorising Ede and Osun State at large for a long time before nemesis caught up with them. We arrested them through intelligence,” she added.
Opalola explained that, “On 7th April 2024 at about 12:20am, Akakan area of Ede, a complainant reported at B Division Ede that four armed robbery gang attacked him and other occupants of the building, robbed them of belongings such as phones, sneakers, iPod, laptop, iPad, Apple wristwatch, chains, clothes amounting to over N4, 990 million.
“Also, on 14th April, 2024, at about 11:30 to 12pm, the same gang, came in Toyota Corolla registration number APP 352, stormed a house at Fiwasaye Agbale area of Ede, kidnapped him and carted away three HP laptop, they kidnapped the complainant and released him the next day around 4:30am after collecting a ransom of N133, 000 which was sent to the account number of one of them, Solomon Michael.
“Another suspect, Sunday Felix, during an operation, fired one Ali Monday Segun, on the right leg with a Beretta pistol. The victim was rushed to Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Ile-Ife where the ammunition was removed.”
In addition, she said, “On April 19, 2024, at about 11:45pm, another complainant at Powerline Area, Agbale Ede, reported that three gang of armed robbers scaled the fence and dispossessed them of iPhone, clothes, Infinix phone, one Toyota Venza, valued N11 million among other items.
“On 29th April, 2024, a complainant of Fasina Estate, Aisu Ede, said the gang collected a Toyota Highlander which belongs to Federal Polytechnic Ede Union from him.
“However, with the efforts of the CP Monitoring Unit, these suspects numbering ten were arrested.”
In an interview, one of the paraded suspects, Felix Eniola, stated that his friend, Monsuru, invited him to rob his bosom friend and that he left Lagos to Ede for the operation, adding that they spied on the environment and their targets for a week before carrying out their operation.
“My friend that I met in Lagos, Monsuru, called me to come and join him in Osun to rob his friend. I left Lagos to Osun and we lodged in a hotel. Unknown to me, the police were already tracking my friend. They later tracked him with a lady when we were returning to our hotel. We had robbed some Yahoo boys before, we took their cars and two laptops, that was my first operation,” he confessed.
