By Evelyn Usman

Operatives of the Rapid Response Squad, RRS, weekend, arrested a suspected member of a robbery gang that specialised in attacking traders and civil servants in Ijede area of Ikorodu, Lagos.

RRS

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Also arrested was an ex-convict, who was allegedly returning from where his gang had gone to vandalise cables in Ikeja area of the state.

Vanguard gathered that the suspect arrested at Ijede, Sadiq Rasaq and a fleeing member of his gang, stabbed a puff puff seller during an operation. Thereafter, they forcefully collected N20,000 from him.

Narrating his ordeal in the hands of the suspects, a hawker, Ogbodo Chibuike, said: “Two young men on okada stopped me, saying they wanted to buy puff-puff around 5a.m. Because they were of my age, I didn’t suspect anything sinister. They bought N200 worth of puff puff.

“But they refused to pay me. When I challenged them, they alighted and stabbed me, took my wallet containing N20,000.

“My cry for help alerted people. Because the robbers were on okada, those who came to my aid couldn’t chase after them, but some RRS officers on patrol chased and caught up with them at Ijede Junction. Only one of them was arrested, while the other escaped.”

During interrogation, the suspect who identified his fleeing partner as Quadri Yusuf, disclosed that the attack on the hawker was their second operation for that day.

Meanwhile, the suspected cable thief, Peter Abah, 32, was arrested on Mobolaji Johnson Road, Ikeja, with the cables concealed in a wheelbarrow.

Speaking on the development, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, Muazu Zubairu, directed that all the fleeing suspects be arrested and the case transferred to the State Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department, SCIID, Yaba, for further investigation.