A suspected robber has revealed how he and his gang
members used to hide around Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) galleries, attacking
and robbing people who came to collect money.
The suspect, Gbenga Babatunde, 35, said that he and
his partner in crime, Samson Baba Ramadan, who is now at large, has robbed over
35 people at ATM points at Alaba Rago Market, Ojo, Lagos State.
He said: “I have been in the crime since I met my
colleague, Samson Baba Ramadan. I met him at Field Joint, Alaba, two years ago
and since then we have been working together. We’ve robbed about 35 people
together.”
Describing the gang’s modus operandi, he said: “We used
to get the targeted ATM point by 4:00 a.m. We would hide inside a shop that is
not open beside the ATM point. As soon as someone comes to withdraw money, we would
accost him or her and collect the money. The last money we collected was N40,
000. Yesterday, we collected N12, 500."
Babatunde, who was arrested after a failed bid to
rob a lady who withdrew an unspecified amount of money around 5:48 a.m. at an
ATM point in Alaba Rago Market, was chased by the operatives of Rapid Response
Squad (RRS), patrolling the area. When he was arrested, a cut to size locally
made gun, with two life cartridges were recovered from him.
Babatunde added: “This morning, we wanted to collect
money from a lady, but she ran away. We thought she had gone; unaware she went
to inform RRS operatives. This was around 5:00 a.m. They pursued us and
arrested me but my partner escaped. I usually don’t go home. I sleep in Osankwa
Hotel, Alaba Rago. It’s only whenever I don’t have money that I go home. I have
no wife or child.”
The operatives also recovered from him, a First Bank
MasterCard belonging to Iweka Christopher Uchenna and a Diamond Bank Debit Card
owned by Nkechi Esther Idoko.
A police source said: “Upon his arrival at the RRS's
Headquarters in Alausa, Babatunde owned up to the crime. He said that his
accomplice, now on the run, introduced the criminal act to him.”
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