Ikorodu robbery: Police bust gang, 4 suspects arrested

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested four members of the notorious gang that raided two banks in Ikorodu on Wednesday, June 24. It was believed the same set of bandits robbed financial institutions in Ikorodu three weeks earlier.

The robbers made away with cash running into millions of naira in the last operation.

In a bid to frustrate security operatives from successfully trailing them, the robbers set ablaze the three Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) they used for the operation. In an operation that looked like the March 12 raid in Lekki, Lagos, the hoodlums who shot sporadically, escaped with their booties through the Ipakodo jetty at Ikorodu, using two motorboats.

After the incident, former Commissioner of Police, Mr. Kayode Aderanti, assured that the command will fish out the robbers while N5 million reward was offered to anyone with useful information.

On the breakthrough, Crime Watch Today gathered that police got wind that soldiers in Ondo State who were on a stop and search duty accosted one of the suspects travelling to his hometown in Okitikpupa. Bundles of new N1,000 notes with bank seals were found in his bag. The soldiers who were also at alert on the manhunt for the robbers, contacted the Lagos police command on the development.

Aderanti facilitated the hand-over of the suspect to the command for further interrogation and subsequent arrest of others.

The suspect initially alleged that he learnt of the robbery and quickly travelled down to Ikorodu to get his own share of the loot. His confession changed as soon as he stepped into the office of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, Lagos.

Determined to save the command of the embarrassment over the spate of bank robberies in the state, Aderanti summoned former boss of SARS, Abba Kyari, a Superintendent of Police, to assist in the investigation. Kyari, who has since resumed work at the Force Headquarters, Abuja, was said to have co-ordinated the manhunt from his new office in the federal capital. Also redeployed to SARS by CP Aderanti was DSP James Okeke who was initially posted to another division in the state.

Kyari was said to have deployed an advanced tracking team led by Okeke to pick three other suspects from their various locations in Ikorodu. They confessed to the crime, saying they spent their proceeds to buy exotic cars and landed properties. The three cars have since been recovered by the police. The suspects also claimed that one of them who is still at large dressed like a woman to distract and create fear during the raid.

Confirming the arrest, the command’s spokesman, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, said details of the arrest will soon be made public.

Source: SUN