We were going for N14m operation – Robbery suspects

Eight suspects, now in police custody, have disclosed that they were about to rob a man of N14 million before they were rounded up. But to burst the eight-man robbery gang, a policeman had to risk everything, including his life, to go into the underworld.
The robbers had already marked their target and were about embarking on the operation, which would fetch them. A 14 million, but they needed transport and a driver. The policeman, simply identified as Azeez, who posed as a robber, offered to drive the robbers to their destination in Lagos from Ogun State.

But instead of driving them to their destination, he took them to a joint, after convincing them to have one last drink before the operation. They were drinking and mapping out their final plans, when armed policemen swooped on them.
The police recovered three guns and ammunition from the suspects. The suspects are identified as Gbenga Ajayi, Saheed Adekunle, Gbenga Saka, Joseph Sunday, Oladipupo Odetayo, Olabamidele Sanusi, Ismaila Adebayo and Adenekan Okanlawon.
The suspects said one Alfa Sule contracted them for the robbery operation. But Sule has since been on the run. He was neither in the car nor at the joint the day they were going for the operation.
It was gathered that the police got a tip-off about the planned robbery and the police team, led by Inspector Toyin Omosebi, sent Azeez to join the gang. Ajayi, who claimed he was selling land and sand at Mowe, was the first person Sule contacted about the robbery operation.
Thereafter, Ajayi notified Odetayo, who got other members of the gang. He said: “I know Sule as my elder brother’s friend. He said the job would fetch us N14 million. He even said he would go to the victim’s home with us.
Sule scheduled a meeting but I couldn’t attend, so I told Bamidele to represent me.” On his part, Odetayo said he used to work with Gbenga on building sites. According to him, it was Gbenga, who told him someone brought a job of N14 million.
He said: “When I met Sule, he told me that the driver of the owner of the house was part of the operation. He said that it was the driver who would open the gate of the building and direct us to where the money was.” Odetayo added that a few days after meeting with Sule, he called him on phone, telling him that they would strike that Saturday at Alagbado area of Lagos.
He said: “This would have been my first robbery operation. I used to pick pocket and snatch phones, but I was never involved in robbery. I decided to join because I needed money for my graduation. I have just finished my apprenticeship in plumbing and the graduation would cost me N120,000.”
Sanusi, who said that he also joined the gang because he needed money for his graduation ceremony after his apprenticeship in aluminium works, said he used to work with land speculators as one of their thugs before the lure of N14 million led to his downfall.
Sanusi said he initially did not want to go for the operation until his friend, Odetayo, told that Sule, who brought the deal, would be going with them. He said: “I told Sule that I didn’t have a gun, he promised to provide guns we needed. I told him that I knew a guy who would give us a gun. He said it was okay. Sule said that some members would hold down the two guards at the gate of the house, while he would go inside the house and get the money.”
Sanusi said he remembered that Adebayo had a gun. So, he went to Adebayo who agreed to hire out the gun to him for N15,000. He said: “When Alfa later called me, I told him that we needed transport and a driver. On the night of the operation, about five of us gathered on Lagos – Ibadan Expressway, where the driver came to pick us.
“We decided to go to a beer parlour to drink before heading for the operation. We had not even started drinking before the police came and arrested us. They later went to arrest others.” Saka, another member of the gang, said he also went to get a gun. According to him, he rented the gun from an Indian hemp seller. He, however, urged the police to be lenient with him because the gun couldn’t shoot. He said: “I tried it, it wasn’t working.”
Odetayo said he brought the third gun, which he got it from a friend, Corrador, who he met in prison. According to him, when he told Corrador about the operation and that he needed a gun, he directed him to an uncompleted building at Mowe, where he found the gun.
Police said that Okanlawon was a commercial motorcyclist, who used to take Adebayo to different gangs to supply guns for robbery operations. But Okanlawon said that he was a victim of circumstance and was not a robber. He, however, accepted that he conveyed Adebayo to some places.