This is not the best times for Ajibola
Alao, a 29-year-old armed robbery suspect who is currently cooling his
feet in the protective custody of the operatives attached to the Rapid
Response Squad (RRS), Lagos State Police Command. Alao, a member of a
‘one-chance’ robbery gang arrested by operatives of the Rapid Response
Squad, disclosed that his failure to heed his late mother’s advice not
to take other peoples’ sweat led to his arrest.
The arrest of Alao, followed a hot chase
launched after him on Thursday, February 10, 2017, during one of their
routine operations within Oshodi axis, shortly after they had
dispossessed their lone passenger of his two phones and a sum of
N61,000:00 found on the victim. An informed police source at the RRS Headquarters, Alausa Secretariat,
Ikeja, hinted that the suspect, in company of the driver and conductor
of their operational bus, a Volkswagen transporter bus, with the
registration number, APP 820 XE (Lagos), had picked up the passenger,
identified as Asotie Benedict, at Ladipo bus stop, having agreed to stop
for him to alight at Oshodi Under flyover.
According to the source, instead, Alao
and his accomplices, armed with an alternative plan did not stop under
the Oshodi Under flyover for him to alight, but rather sped off.
Citing the presence of LASTMA at that Bus Stop, as an excuse, it was
gathered that they pretended they were ascending the bridge towards
Oshodi Oke, at a point they dispossessed Asotie of his two mobile phones
(a Blackberry Passport and a Samsung set) and his wallet containing a
sum of N60,000.00, before forcing him to alight, while the vehicle was
in motion.
According to Asotie, 24-year-old, “after
throwing me out in motion, they threw my N100.00 fare beside me on the
road, perhaps, for me to find my way back home. But, I didn’t give up, I
chased the danfo bus.
“Fortunately, I sighted RRS vehicle, marked with Response 091 and I
quickly alerted them and they chased after the vehicle to a halt. They
arrested Alao, who took all I had on me, but the driver and the
conductor abandoned their vehicle and narrowly escaped.”
He added, “all they took from me were
found on him and some additional phones, which he disclosed to the
police they took from previous victims of their operations.”
Alao, in his confessional statement, said he is part of a three-man
one-chance gang and that the two additional phones found on him belonged
to two previous victims of their operation in Oshodi.
“I have been in the business of
one-chance since 2015. At a point, I stopped and began pick-pocketing,
joining buses to Sango, Agege, Oshodi, Apapa and other places,
disembarking whenever I have fleeced commuters of their phones and
money.
“At a time, I was arrested at Mushin
Olosa Police Station where I was detained for three days. My mum, who
was very ill and on admission in a hospital at that time, was brought to
see me in the cell of the police station in a chattered cab.
“She pleaded with the officers and secured my bail. She warned me
repeatedly never to take what does not belong to me, but I didn’t heed
her advice.
“She told me that if I have been making
money through other peoples’ sweat to foot her hospital bills, I should
stop it forthwith. She insisted that if I want to live long, I should
stop stealing what belongs to other people. She added that the
consequences would be too severe and grave for me if I go back into it
again. But few weeks later, after the incident, she died.”
He continued: “I did it then, because I
needed N140, 000 to renew my house rent. At this time, I got more than
that from a week operation but I didn’t stop at that. Now, I went back
into it to help, raise funds for my siblings, so that they won’t follow
the same path I have taken to.
“I am the first child and the
breadwinner of the family. Since the death of my mother, I have been
taking care of my brothers. That was the promise I made to my mother
that I would take care of my younger siblings, before she passed on.”
He added, “Most of my colleagues in the business were arrested by RRS
last year. Few ones who were not arrested relocated to other states for
fear of arrest by the RRS operatives who have been leaving no stone
unturned to have a crime-free centre of excellence.”
While confirming the incident, the Lagos
State Police Public Relations Officer, Dolapo Badmos, Superintendent of
Police (SP), disclosed that the Command will not rest on its oars in
nipping in the bud the criminal activities of hoodlums who want to give
the residents of the state sleepless nights.
She, however, added that the Lagos State
Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, had directed that the lone
suspect be transferred to the operatives of the State Criminal
Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, for further
investigations, in a bid to track down the two other fleeing suspects.
THIS DAY
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