Boys posing as policeman’s sons rob officers’ mess

In what looked like a scene from Hollywood movie, two young men on a motorcycle invaded the ‘Police Officers’ Mess,’ at the GRA, Ikeja, Lagos and robbed people of money, phones and other valuables.

The news of the robbery shocked police hierarchy in the state. The two men were said to have been allowed into the Officers’ Mess after they told the police guards at the gate that they were children of a top police officer. They then robbed people found at the mess unchallenged and later escaped on their motorcycle.
A source said: “The robbers, who pretended to be children of a senior police officer, came around 4pm on that fateful day and robbed the customers and the bar manager of their phones and money.
The boys were earlier prevented from entering the mess by policemen on guard, but they lied to them that they were children of a senior police officer before they were allowed in.”
A police officer said he was shocked when he was briefed what happened. He said: “I was sleeping when people came into my room to inform me. Every Sunday, the door of the mess is always open for people to come in and enjoy themselves. But what happened to us came as a surprise to every one of us.
The boys actually told the policemen on guard that they were children of a senior police officer. But they turned out to be armed robbers. They stole people’s phones, including that of the bar manager.”
The officer added that after robbing the customers and the bar manager of their phones and money, some victims quickly raised the alarm. But the robbers disappeared before the arrival of the security guards at the door.
“The way they disappeared was mysterious to everyone,” said the source. “We searched every part of the neighborhood and the compound of the mess, but they were nowhere to be found. The officer in-charge of the mess had ordered the detention of the policemen.”
But when contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Dolapo Badmos, denied knowledge of the robbery. She said: “There was nothing like that. No report of such robbery was brought to my notice.”
But a security expert, Mr Folorunso Attah, said it was a strange occurrence. Attah, who said he covered crime for over 20 years, disclosed that robbers had never attacked the officers’ mess.
He said: “I have never heard that armed robbers raided the officers’ mess. But a similar incident, which I covered, occurred at Okota Police Division where the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) and the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) organised a prayer in conjunction with some clerics to pray against stealing of seized vehicles on the police premises.
“During the prayer that fateful day, suddenly robbers stormed the station and started shooting sporadically. The pastors and everybody at the station jumped through the window and ran away.
“The robbers then said ‘do you think your prayer can change us?’ “The robbers then stole six vehicles after those praying had fled.”