Robbers who shot corporal, arrested trying to sell his rifle

Operatives of the Zonal Intervention Squad (ZIS), Zone 2 Police Command, Onikan Lagos State, have arrested two suspected armed robbers for allegedly shooting a police corporal, Aladejare Adedeji  and disappearing with his AK47 rifle.

The suspects are Rasak Owolabi (26), Segun  Alade (32), Adekunle Ibrahim (24) and  Salau Taiwo. Taiwo is alleged to be the receiver of the stolen items.

The suspects were alleged to have been terrorising residents of Ijegun, Isheri,  Ikotun, Meran and Salolo area along AIT road, Lagos, before they were arrested at their hideout.

The suspects, who went out for operation on August 14, allegedly robbed and shot the police corporal, while he was returning from duty. They dispossessed him of his service rifle. They were allegedly looking for buyers for the rifle when they were arrested.

One of the suspects, Alade, said the idea was to sell the policeman’s rifle, use the proceeds to buy a new gun to add to their operational guns.

Alade further said: “We have been working together for about two years now, but I didn’t follow them on the fateful day the policeman was shot.  I used to buy the guns we used for our operations from Klara in republic of Benin. Each gun costs N30, 000. I regret my action; I was in my house when they came to arrest me.”

Another suspect, Owolabi, claimed that it was poverty that pushed him into crime. He said he had to take to robbery in order to survive.

Owolabi, who described himself as a driver, said that he met one of the gang members two months ago at a joint in Agbara, where they used to drink.  After meeting, they became friends.

Owolabi further said: “I have followed the gang to robbery operations just two times. The first time was at Meiran and the second was at Ikotun. That was when we collected the policeman’s gun. I got N400, 000 and 700,000 respectively from the two operations.”

Ibrahim and Taiwo, who used to receive the stolen items from the gang members, insisted they didn’t know the items were stolen ones. They also denied knowing that the men were into robbery.

The Assistant-Inspector General (AIG), Zone 2, Mr. Adamu Ibrahim, said the suspects were arrested through intelligence gathering. They were arrested at different locations of in Ogun State, he said.

Ibrahim, however, listed the items recovered from the suspects to include one AK47 rifle, a cut-to-size double barrelled gun, one single barrelled cut-to-size gun, five live cartridges and some assorted charms.  He disclosed that the suspects had all confessed to the crimes.