BY EVELYN USMAN
TWO suspected members of a robbery gang met their waterloo recently, after they were arrested by policemen from Ogun State Police command. The suspects who gave their names as Ajose Ebenezer and Olaosegbe Idowu, were arrested in their victim’s apartment at Oke-Ola area of Abeokuta, during an operation.

The suspects, said to have been among other robbery gangs that had been terrorizing residents of the area, invaded some houses as usual about two weeks ago at midnight. They were clad in Army Camouflage nicker.

Informed sources said, the hoodlums gained entrance into one of the buildings through the fence and had succeeded in dispossessing their victims of cash, laptops and other valuables when detectives arrived the scene.  Before leaving the apartment, they reportedly locked their victims inside one of the rooms, attempted to escape only to fall into the waiting hands of armed policemen, who had earlier been tipped-off.

One of the suspects, Olaosegbe Idowu, a carpenter, revealed during this interview how what started like a child’s play, snowballed into a worrisome phenomenon to the consternation of his parents.

The genesis
Recalling how it all started years back in his primary school days, when he was barely nine years, 26 year-old Idowu  said: “ This thing started when I was in primary school. Then I was stealing my class mates’ books, pencils and money. I was also stealing at home, though my parents tried all they could to stop me.

“I was not a brilliant child and wanted to leave school and venture into something else, but my parents would not allow me. I managed to scale through primary school but on getting to secondary level, I could not cope and had to drop out in Junior Secondary School, JSS 2.
Idowu added: “I must state here that my parents never contributed to what I am today because they tried their best for me. My father even took me to learn carpentry. But as if I was never meant to be a good boy, I graduated into smoking Indian hemp”.

Like honey that will always attract bees, Idowu, during one of his visits to the Indian hemp joint, met a group of persons that changed the entire course of his life for the worse.

He said: “In the course of my frequent visits to the Indian hemp joint, I met some boys who were always buying drinks for whoever came to smoke. I later got acquainted with them and they introduced me into robbery. I joined them mainly because the carpentry job was not yielding me money. We were eight in number and so far, I have gone on an operation with them eight times.”
His arrest
Like everything that has a beginning that must have an end, the long arm of the law eventually caught up with Idowu who blamed his arrest on greed, revealing that rather than going for an operation with the actual number of members of the gang, he decided to go with only one of them, apparently to have a larger share of the loot.

Said he: “We got information that our victim was rich and I and Ajose Ebenezer decided to storm the residence without allowing other members to know. We went there at night, jumped through the fence and found our way into the apartment around Oke_Ola Area. We had removed all we needed and were  about to take our leave when armed policemen swooped on us.”

Recovered items

Recovered from the suspects, according to the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Musa Daura
were a locally made single barrel gun, a UTC axe, HP laptop computer which was collected from their victim, a soldier camouflage nicker and a bag containing damaged mobile handsets, suspected to have earlier been stolen from their victims.

Idowu confessed to policemen that he bought the locally made gun from a goldsmith for N5000.

His alleged partner in crime, Ajose Ebenezer, a commercial motorcyclist, claimed he was introduced to the gang by Idowu, during one of his visits to the Indian hemp joint, blaming his indulgence on his being a helpless orphan.

Ebenezer, 21, said: “I fend for myself and nobody among my immediate and distant family members has asked after my well being. That was why I did not hesitate when Idowu sold the idea to me. Unfortunately, this is my third time of going for an operation.

He said:  “In the first raid, I realized N5, 000. I got N4, 000 from the second. My share is low because all I do is to carry the bag containing the weapons during any operation.”

The suspects according to Daura, would be charged to court, adding that the command would not rest on its oars until criminal elements were chased out of the state.