A 22-year-old man has told officials of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS), Lagos State that he and his accomplice usually work as conductors of commercial buses to monitor traffic before embarking on robbery. The suspect, Biodun Omoyeni, confessed that they had dispossessed unsuspecting Nigerians of 19 phones and laptops while in traffic. He was arrested by operatives of RRS, who disguised as passers-by and moved with the traffic at Lekki-Ajah. Omoyeni, who said they usually operate in Lekki-Ajah Expressway, added:
“We meet in Mushin and Ojuelegba whenever we want to operate before heading to Lekki and Ajah. We do conductor work for commercial buses. But we use that to monitor traffic till 7p.m. to 7:30p.m. when it has built up before we start operating.”
Revealing the modus operandi of his two-man gang, Omoyeni said what they usually do is to distract a driver, by telling him that his tyre is flat. Once the motorist attempts to check it, another member of the gang would steal the valuables inside the car, from the other side of the driver’s seat. Omoyeni noted that his partner and gang leader, Rasaq, 24, still at large, trained him and four other boys on how to steal mobile phones and valuables in traffic and on motorcycles at Mushin. The suspect, with several scars and stitches on his face, said:
“The scars on my face are as a result of street fight. I was rejected in four hospitals two years ago before I was admitted at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, where the wounds were stitched. “I’m not an armed robber. It was Rasaq that introduced me to this.
I was a tyre seller in Ibadan before I decided to follow a friend to Lagos for a greener pasture.” The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Dolapo Badmus, confirmed the arrest. She said that there would be no reprieve for criminals in the state.
