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| Okeke and Kolawole |
A robbery suspect who
has just being arrested for bank robbery is presently singing like a bird while
in the custody of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, Lagos State. He
revealed how he and his gang members used to monitor customers in banking
halls, trail and robbed them of their money.
The suspect, Chinedu
Okeke 32, who is also being charged for attempted murder, confessed to have
shot a victim while attempting to snatch his money from him.
He said: “I had to shoot
him because he refused to obey order and drop the money he had just withdrawn
from the bank.”
A police source said: “Okeke
belonged to a three man gang of robbers. They specialize in going into banking
halls to monitor customers withdrawing huge sums of money. They would later
attack such customers while they were heading to their destinations from the
bank. The gang also used to embark on house to house robbery.”
Okeke and his partner,
Kolawole were arrested on April 24, 2015 around 11am. They were said to have
been grabbed by policemen moments after they had carried out a robbery operation.
They robbed a man who just left the banking hall of a new generational bank at
Festac, 21 Road, with N500, 000.00.
According to the police,
the gang leader, Ben was right inside the banking hall, monitoring customers
coming in to make withdrawals when he noticed the victim going out of the bank
with the money.
Ben quickly alerted
other members waiting outside the bank. He described the victim to them.
As the man was driving towards
Orile Police Station direction, Okeke double crossed him with the gang’s
operational car.
Okeke jumped out from
their car and pointed a gun at the victim. He ordered him to handover the money
to him. The man however stubbornly refused.
Infuriated, Okeke shot,
snatched the money and drove away with his Kolawole in the man’s car, while Ben
and others followed in their car.
The money was shared; Ben
took N200, 000.00, Okeke Kolawole shared N300, 000.00.
The incident was
reported to the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Kayode Aderanti, who ordered SARS
men to investigate.
A trap was set for the
gang by SARS men, in an operation led by Officer in charge of SARS, Abba Kyari.
Okeke was the first
person to be caught in the trap. He was said to have resisted arrested and
exchange blows with the operatives.
He was later overpowered
and an AK 47 rifle and ammunitions recovered from him. He was used as bait to catch Kolawole. Ben
escaped by scaling the fenced wall of their hideout.
Okeke said: “The AK47
rifle and the six loaded magazines belong to Ben. I was a furniture maker
before I met Ben. He introduced me into robbery. Hunger and bad economy led me
into robbery. I used to eat only once a day. Sometimes, I won’t have food to
eat for a whole day. I started smuggling to reduce my suffering. My trouble
started after I met Ben in a beer palour. I was pushed to shoot that man. That was
my first time of shooting anybody. I only wanted to scare him.”
Confessing that his gang
used to snatch cars, Okeke said: “Once we see cars that interest us, we use our
cars to double cross and snatch it from the owner. We’ll order the person to
come out.”
Kolawole, said he got
admission to study law in Lagos State University in 2014, but dropped his dream
after his mum, whom he had hoped to sponsor him, suddenly died. Trying to
survive, Kolawole said that he dived into different jobs.
“I was trying to raise
money to go back to school,” said Kolawole. “My trouble started after I met Ben
and other gang members at Iyana Sashi at Isashi along Badadry Express way
Lagos. They said they wanted to introduce me to a business as an agent that
would be supply cars.
I was arrested in my
house at Badagry Express. If I’m pardoned, I promise not to return to crime.”
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