‘Yes, I tell them to rob, but I don’t handle guns’

Dike and Eghon

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a 55-year-old man who allegedly used to give guns to young men to rob along the highways.

The suspect, Jude Dike was among six suspected robbers paraded by the state commissioner of police, Mr. Kayode Aderanti.

Others are; Joel Eghon, Jude Dike, Ifeanyi Onwegbuchi, Solomon Igwe, Emmanuel  Ifeanyi , Ejike Omegwo and Leonard Afoakwu.

While Dike admitted to sending the young men to go and rob, he however vehemently denied selling or handling guns. Dike said he did not go on robbery operations, only collected stolen items from the gang. He sells them and all members share the money.

A police source said that Joel Eghon was first arrested at a beer parlour, where he was planning a robbery operation. It was through Eghon that Dike was arrested and later others.

Aderanti said that the suspects were arrested in Ebute-Metta area of the state during an attempt to launch a robbery attack on law abiding residents of the state.
Aderanti said: “On  September, 20,  2014, information got to us that some gang of armed robbers, who had earlier snatched a Toyota Hiace Bus along Ile Ife Road had converged at a place in Ebute-Metta area of the state and were planning to go out for another operation.
“On my instructions, the officer in charge of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Abba Kyari a Superintendent of Police led two SARS decoy teams to the area and as a result, six suspects were arrested.”

In a follow up to the case, a Berretta pistol with the Serial No PL 75131, 9 rounds of 9 mm ammunition, three locally made pistols, cut to size and 33 live cartridges were recovered from Joel Eghon.
The suspects confessed to several robbery operations within Lagos, Oyo and Ogun States and also claimed that they sold most of their stolen goods to one Leonard Afoaku.
Dike said: “The robbers used to bring stolen items to me. Once they rob, they bring the goods to me to sell. I don’t sell guns. Eghon said he had lost the phone number of the person he wanted to buy a gun from. He came to me to assist him with the person’s phone number.”

The police said that Eghon, some years back, was arrested for car theft, and imprisoned. After serving his jail term, he came out and was planning another robbery when he was arrested.

A police source: “While he was in the prison, he met an inmate who gave him a phone number of someone. He told to call the man who would help with guns for robbery.  According to what he told police, when he called the number, the person asked him to come and meet him at Ore.

“The person gave him the gun and asked him to go and rob and bring cars. When the man didn’t receive any car from Eghon, he started nagging him. The man told him that he had given him gun, but had not seen any car. When the pressure was much, Eghon started searching for friends who would go and rob with him.

“One of his friends told us that Eghon has guns, but wanted to buy a AK47 rifle to add to the ones with him. He wanted to buy the rifle from Dike. The man said he would sell for N150, 000.”

Stating his own side of the story, Eghon said: “Someone gave me the gun. I was planning to go and use the gun. The police got information about my plan. It’s the devil that pushed me into me into crime again.”