By Ifeanyi Okolie

When Iyiola Shola, a civil servant, was robbed on March 8, 2016, by a gang of armed robbers who stormed her apartment in Ketu area of Lagos State and dispossessed her of cash, jewelleries, mobile phone, laptop and a Toyota Camry Saloon car, the victim was optimistic that her car would be recovered.   She told Crime Guard that she went into fasting and prayers after reporting the incident to the police and she was hopeful that the police will recover her car and arrest the robbers involved.

Suspects

Two months after the incident, she got a call from her husband informing her that her car had been found in Abeokuta, Ogun State, while two of the robbers who took part in the robbery have been arrested by policemen attached to the Inspector- General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team.  The 37-year-old woman, who thanked God and the police, said she didn’t tell anyone that her car was robbed because she had faith in God that it would be recovered.

How I was robbed

Narrating how she was robbed the victim said; “I was in the room sleeping with my kids, at  2 am that day when five armed men burst into my room, pointed a gun at me and started asking for money.   I don’t know how they got into my compound but I told them that my money was in my handbag and I left it on the dining table.

Two of them took me downstairs while others ransacked my room.   When we got to the sitting room, I found my younger sister already lying down, one of them picked up my car key and asked for key to the gate and I gave it to him. They parked themselves into my car and shot rapidly into the air before leaving.   After a short while, they drove back again, it was as if they left something behind.   One of them jumped out of my car, picked up the item and they left.

Police team arrives

Later, a police patrol team showed up in my compound and they said our neighbours called and said there was robbery in my house.   I told them what happened and gave them details of my car.   They went on air and radioed the theft of my car before leaving.   The next day,  I went to Alapere which was closer to me and made a formal report of the robbery, but the policemen at that division didn’t assist me at all.  Some even told me to forget about the car that the robbers may have taken it to the Republic of Benin. I felt helpless when they said this, then I decided to pray.   I told my husband not to tell people that my car was robbed because I know God will get it back for me. I fasted, prayed and I held night vigils, and God finally answered me,”  she narrated.

How suspects were arrested

A police source told Crime Guard that the suspects were arrested when a team of IRT operatives trailing a notorious gang of robbers that specialized in car snatching within Lagos and Ogun States stormed the gang’s hideout in a hemp joint close to Ketu Tipper Garage and arrested two members of the gang identified as Mojeed Ogooluwa, A.K.A Terminator and Toheed Waheed.   They added that the suspects confessed to the robbery at Shola’s residence.   “When we asked where they kept the woman’s car, they told us that they were intercepted by policemen from Ogun State on their way to Ilorin, where they wanted to sell the car and the police killed a member of their gang and recovered the car. We followed on that information and found the car at Ogun State Police Command where it was parked.”

Why I went into robbery

When Crime Guard interviewed the suspect,  34-year-old Mojeed Ogooluwa, alias Terminator, he said he lost his job as an executive of Tricycle Operators Association, and things became difficult for him adding that he joined the robbery gang when he could not pay his children’s school fees.     The Oyo State indigene who is a resident of   Ibafo in Ogun State, and married with two children said; “I     was an   executive of Keke Maruwa Operators Association in Ikosi- Isheri Unit, Ketu and I held the post of Financial Secretary.   We are affiliated to the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, and my job is to monitor the movement of tricycles around Ketu and to also make sure that there is free flow of traffic.   I earn N5000 weekly  and at the end of the month, I earn another N20, 000.

How we struck     

Last January,    I was suspended from work and when it was time for me to pay my children’s school fees, I could not afford it.   I became frustrated.   I met one Agu and Mutiu at a smoking joint in Ketu  area  and they started talking about robbing cars from a house. I then told them that I am a good driver and would work for them if they would accept me.   We exchanged numbers and agreed to meet by night time.   We met at ketu bus stop,  and I saw four boys;   Agu, Lekan Tesax, Yahoo Foreign and Mutiu .     They told me that the house where they wanted to snatch the car from is very close by and we went on foot.

I don’t know the name of the street;     it was Agu and Mutiu     who took us to the house.   Three of our gang members had guns but I didn’t have any since I was new in the gang.   Time was around 1: am, when we     invaded the house through the fence and broke the door.   Two persons who had guns entered into the house while I waited outside.   After a while, they brought the key of a Toyota Camry and we all drove out in it.

Attack by police

On our way, we intercepted a Toyota Corolla on CMD Road, Shangisha and we snatched it from the owner.       From that point, we proceeded into Lagos – Ibadan Expressway and we were heading towards Ilorin Kwara State to sell the vehicles to our buyers.   On the way, the police attacked us where we stopped to buy something to eat.   The police shot at us and we all ran away, but the bullet hit one of us, Mutiu on his abdomen and we abandoned him and the vehicle and ran away into the bush.   The police followed us but they stopped when they couldn’t apprehend us.   I stopped robbing after the operation.”