Licensed pump action rifle recovered from robbery suspect

Pump action rifles (file copy)

A suspected robber who dresses like a woman has been shot dead by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) Ikeja, during exchange of gun battle.

The suspect, identified as Kazeem Akmed a.k.a Naira, has been described by other robbery suspects and the police as ‘master of disguise.’ The suspect was popularly known in the criminal underworld as ‘Naira.’

On the night he was killed, he was wearing a flowing wig and night gown.

SARS operatives were further stunned to discover a licensed pump action rifle in his home and even found the receipt for the rifle.

The receipt had Kazeem Akmed’s name on it and dated 1999.

Police detectives believed that Akmed had been robbing for more than 15 years and had been using the licensed pump rifle.

A further search of the suspect’s apartment also revealed six fully loaded police magazines and police AK47 rifles.

A police source said: “There was no way Akmed could have gotten those police rifles and magazine if not that he and his gang killed some policemen and took the guns from them.”

Akmed was shot and killed by SARS operatives after he attempted to scale the fence of his building at the Ikorodu area of Lagos, where police had gone to arrest him, to escape.

Although what the person they first saw agilely scaling the fence was a woman with flowing hair and night gown, they had immediately sensed it was Akmed since so many suspects had revealed how good he was in disguising when going to operations or trying to elude the police.

Another police source said: “We had received several information from our paid informants on where to locate him. But anytime we get there, someone will say he just walked past us. There was a time we heard he was in a night club. Some of us went into the night club, while others stayed at the gate. We were so sure he would not elude us that day again. But we were surprised that he was part of a group of noisy women who strolled out of the club.”

It was gathered that the police repeatedly ordered him to halt as he scaled the fence,  but Akmed refused to heed and instead, made a beeline for the rivers, apparently determined to dive into the waters and swim to safety.

Rather than halt, he allegedly whipped out a gun from under his night gown and started shooting sporadically at the policemen.

According to the police, Akmed was one of the best armed robbers when it comes to the art of disguising his appearance.

His name had been mentioned several times by arrested robbers, but none of the descriptions had ever matched.

It was gathered that Akmed got his nick name ‘Naira,’ from Fuji musicians, whom he used to spray whenever he attended a party, which was often.

According to his partners in his crime, the money he was fond of spraying the musicians were always mint notes.

Information gathered on Akmed revealed that he had three personal buildings. Two are at the Ikorodu area of Lagos State and the third at Epe.

The two buildings at Ikorodu are located at Agura and Agberigbe areas.

After any robbery operation, he used to take off to Agura to hide and wait until the heat goes down. The Agura house is built very close to the river. He had two wives but none of them knew the location of the building at Agura.

His first wife stays at Epe and has two kids for him. The second wife lives at his Agberigbe residence and had no kid yet for him.

Akmed’s downfall started after one of his gang members was arrested by SARS operatives and squealed on him. The gang member further revealed where Akmed’s second wife lives at Agberigbe.

A police source said: “The officer in charge of SARS (OC), SP. Abba Kyarri, drafted a team of policemen and instructed them to go to Agberigbe in Ikorodu that same night. We believe that once we get the wife, we would get Naira. When we got to Agberigbe, we arrested the wife and asked her to call her husband. She called him, begging him to come home that something terrible had happened. He asked her what had happened. She told him that hot water poured on her. He replied her, ‘police has arrested you. Tell them to do whatever they like with you.’ The first wife had no choice than to take the police to the second wife’s home at Epe.”

The police team found the second wife quickly packing her belongings, ramming them haphazardly into different luggage. A vehicle was already waiting outside for her. She told police that Akmed called her and told her to quickly leave the house without taking a pin. When she had asked what was wrong, he had shouted at her to obey him. She had however thought it prudent to take her clothes.

When police searched the house, nothing was found except 11 different number plates. The police also noticed a Sienna car parked in front of the building.

“The wife told the police that the Sienna car belonged to her husband. The second wife chirped in that their husband used to frequent his house at Agura, but she didn’t know the exact location of the building,” said the police source. “The police immediately went to Agura in the night. When the police got there, they started patrolling the area because they didn’t know where the building was situated. They took a chance and risk to go to Agura that night, not really sure they had ever been able to locate the place.”

The police were on the verge of giving up when they saw some security guards. The police asked them if they knew any person called ‘Naira’ or ‘Kazeem Akmed.’

The name did not ring a bell to the guards. They asked the policemen to give them a description of the man. One of the wives was brought out from police van to give a description of her husband.  The guards asked about the sort of vehicles he drives, the wife said Camry.

The guards said they knew the man, adding that he also drives a Sienna car. One of the guards insisted that he saw Akmed that same night.

The police source continued: “As the police approached the building that the security guards pointed to, they noticed it was fenced round. Policemen surrounded the gate and asked one of the guards to knock. A young lady answered the door. The policemen who were in mufti told her they were looking for the owner of the building. She told them that the man was her husband. She claimed that he travelled over a week ago. When she was asked the full name of her husband, she couldn’t say his name. She didn’t know it! Police immediately arrested her. She quickly opened up, saying he picked her at Badagry the night before that day.”

She added that the owner of the house was inside the house. Before she could finish speaking, policemen stormed into the compound, but Akmed had already left the apartment was climbing the fence of the building, dressed as a woman.

“The police saw him just as he scaled the fence. He was ordered to stop, but he refused to halt. He ran towards the river, police pursued. There was exchange of gunfire and he was shot. He died. The house was ransacked and police recovered two AK47 rifles, belonging to the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).  The two rifles and six fully loaded magazines were painted police colour. The police also recovered one pump action rifle. The receipt for the pump action was also found in his house.”