RRS arrests robbery suspect paid N8,000 per operation

Operatives of the Lagos State Rapid Response Squad (RRS) have arrested one of the robbers of a television presenter who claimed he earned N8,000 after each operation.

The suspect, Timileyin Adebayo, 23, was said to robbed the unnamed female presenter on July 12 together with three members of his gang- Olabanji, Ahmed and Lekan- who pretended to be passengers in a tricycle.

They were said to have used knives and cutlasses to dispossess the woman of her phones and handbag containing other belongings.

In his statement to the police, Adebayo said: “The operation was my fifth robbery with the gang. I joined them this July and for each of the operation, they gave me N8,000 only. No matter what we made, that is what they gave me. Maybe, because I just joined the gang. They don’t treat me as one of them at all.

“I was asked to join the gang by one of them after one of their gang members pulled out. They had been operating for a long time before I joined them. I was a bus conductor, I had no job. They promised to assist me and that was when they invited me to join the gang.

“We rob between Coca-Cola and Ogba, Ikeja to Ogba. We use two knives and a short cutlass. I collect phones and belongings of our victims.”

The female presenter, according to the police, was robbed around 10pm after she boarded the tricycle at Coca-Cola enroute Ogba.

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“They were all men. I didn’t suspect anything because there were other ‘Keke’ there. I noticed that as soon as the driver linked Wempco Road, the two passengers at the back and the one sitting in front brought out knives and cutlass and threatened to kill me if I did not co-operate with them.

“They collected my two phones, my handbag, jewelry and some money, I can’t even recollect how much it was. Then, they pushed me out of the ‘keke’ while on speed.

“I was struggling to get up to avoid oncoming vehicles from hitting me. One bike man assisted me and we were on their trail. We caught up with them in Akilo Road, and unfortunately for us, they used their ‘keke’ to hit us.

“This was the point RRS patrol team saw us and chased the robbers. They abandoned their ‘keke’ and fled in different directions but they got that one (pointing to the suspect).”

Police said a tricycle and a dagger were recovered from the gang, adding that the Commissioner Zubairu Muazu has ordered immediate arrest of fleeing suspects and transfer of the case to State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID).