‘I was attacked with machete because of my phones’

A victim of armed robbery attack along the Ojota and Mile 12 axis has revealed how the bandits, determined to collect his two phones, inflicted machete cuts on him.

This was even as operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS), Lagos State Police Command, said that eight suspects had been arrested in connection with such nightly attack along those areas.
The victim, Mr. Adebayo Ogunleye, recalling the fateful day of his attack, said: “It was God’s intervention that I was not killed that night. I was struggling for survival, drinking my own blood before I was able to cross to the other side of the road and escape.”
Ogunleye said the police that he was waylaid by an assailant between Ojota and Mile 12. He stated that the robber in trying to collect his two phones, inflicted machete cuts on him and also head-butted him into surrendering his phones; Microsoft Lumia 535 & Tecno T5. The robber also collected his wallet containing BVN Card, First Bank verve card and MasterCard, among other items.
One of the arrest suspects, 27-year-old Dapo Simeon, nabbed along with seven others for robbing passers-by in Ojota, Ketu and Mile 12 at night, confessed to have lost count of the number of people he had attacked and robbed in those areas.
Simeon, a bricklayer, told the police that he started with pickpocketing three years ago and graduated into robbery.
He said that he specialised in stealing phones, jewelry and money.
His words: “I can’t remember the number of phones I have stolen and collected from passers-by in Ojota, Ketu and Mile 12.  I was trained by Olasege and later Femi. Both of them are my boss. They live in Mushin, Idi – Oro area. They taught me the job. I sell all the phones I get at night or the previous day to Baba Iyabo. He comes to Down Blow area in Mile 12 to collect the phones and jewelry very early in the morning.”
Simeon and his colleagues were picked up on Thursday morning after two young women he robbed on Wednesday night at MKO Garden, near Ojota, reported to RRS operatives attached to Ojota the following day.
The operatives followed the women to the scene of the robbery where they met two men, John Obinna and Sunday Ugwu. The officers, after interviewing and searching the duo, saw suspected stolen phones and an unused SIM card, which was traced to its original owner, Ogunleye.
The arrest of John Obinna and Sunday Ugwu by the operatives, led to further arrest of others. They are; Dapo Simeon, Chinonso Onnogo, Chuka Eze, Kadir Afolabi, Segun Pascal and David Bassey.
They all confessed to have been robbing people at night in Ojota, Ketu and Mile 12.
According to the Police Public Relations Officer, Dolapo Badmos, all the suspects had given the police useful statement that would assist in clamping down on others.