Gang using taxi to operate smashed after robbing sergeant

A cab driver, Kola Bakare, 31, is finding it pretty tough to convince policemen and journalists that he was not part of a gang of robbers that dispossessed a policeman of his valuables at gunpoint.

Bakare was said to be among a gang of armed robbers that specialized in using a Camry car as taxi to pick passengers and rob them at gunpoint.

One of the people that Bakare and his gang allegedly picked and robbed one day is a policeman identified as Sergeant Williams Godwin.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, disclosed that the suspect confessed to have driven the Camry car and participated in robbery operations, during which they robbed their passengers at gunpoint.

Imohimi noted Bakare had been identified by some, adding that the Camry car, with registration number EPE- 813-BX had been recovered by the police.

Recalling how the downfall of Bakare started, Imohimi said that there was a report that a policeman robbed and stabbed commuter in taxi. The policeman was said to have left his identity card at the scene of a crime. The identity card was used to trace him. It was after he was traced that he revealed that he was robbed.

Imohimi said: “We received a report that a policeman robbed, stabbed a commuter and then left his ID card at the scene. The Command swiftly invited the policeman whose ID card was published in the newspaper with F/N 448461, Sergeant Williams Godwin. During interrogation, it was discovered that the said sergeant was a victim of a robbery incident that occurred on October 18, 2017.

“He lodged a complaint about the robbery at Area G Command, Ogba, Lagos. He also complained that his ID card, Infinxi phone, which he bought from Jumia and a cash of N4, 500 were carted away by the hoodlums. On the day he was robbed, the sergeant was fast enough to note the plate number of the robbers’ car. The number was taken to the motor licensing office for discreet investigation.”

Imohimi, who said that Bakare was arrested through investigation, added police are already hunting for other fleeing members of the gang.

Speaking with journalists, Bakare said that he was a victim of circumstance. He also insisted that he was innocent of the crime he was being accused. He further explained that he was forced under duress to confess to being a robber by the police. 

He said: “I started driving the Camry car a few weeks ago. I took to cab driving after my shop at Lagos Island was demolished by the Lagos State Government. I don’t know if the owner of the Camry car had earlier used it to rob people or not. I personally approached the owner of the car myself; I begged him to assist me by allowing me to use it for cab business. Since I started driving it, I had been using it to make some earnings.”

Godwin, however, insisted that it was Bakare that pointed a gun at him.  

He further said: “This man (Bakare), was the one that sat beside the driver of the vehicle. His job is to point gun at victims, while other gang members would collect the victims’ valuables. On the fateful that I was robbed, I was picked from Ikeja, and on reaching Omole Phase1Gate, they robbed me of my phones and collected my money.”