By Dayo Johnson

NO doubt about it, they were still amateur in the illicit game of armed robbery.

Two brothers ,Olubunmi Ojo and Adekunle Ojo who were paraded alongside 27 other criminals by the Ondo Police Command were just learning the rope and according to them this was their first outing.
South West Voice learned that they set out to rob at about 9pm on the ill fated day and their first victim was a man driving an unregistered posh car.

Immediately they saw the car, according to police source, they trailed the driver to a lonely place at Iloti area, Ijoka in Akure metropolis on a bike before pouncing on him.

The owner of the unregistered BMW car valued at N4million, Sola Orisamoluwa, was not sensitive to know that he was been trailed by the two brothers who were armed with guns and other dangerous weapons.

Dangerous weapons

Before it dawned on Sola, the robbers had cornered him and the guns were pointed at his head to either surrender the key to the car or have his head blown off.

He told South West Voice at the Police Headquarters where the suspects were paraded that he was asked to alight from the car and was about to be locked up inside the booth of the car.

Sola said I discovered that they were young boys who are not really professionals so I refused to enter into the booth.

While they wanted to force him into the booth, he reportedly wrestled with them and succeeded in collecting one of the guns from one of them after which they drove off leaving him on the road.

He later took the gun to the police station located at Oda road in Akure.

Items stolen from the victim include his Tecno telephone and a cash of N60,000.
In the stolen car were his Wema Bank cheque books, driver’s licence, National I.D card, clothes, sandals and shoes.

One of the brothers, Olubunmi, after the robbery incident started using GSM  phone that was stolen from the victim.

Detectives at the Special Anti- Robbery Squad (SARS) where the case was transferred to from the Oda Police station swung into action and through intelligence gathering Olubunmi said to be a tiler was arrested barely a month after the robbery incident within the same Akure Metropolis with the victim’s handset.

A police source hinted that Olubunmi started singing and led detectives to his brother who he claimed gave him  the handset.

Upon interrogation, Adekunle confessed to the commission of the crime and mentioned other members of the gang.

Adekunle later led detectives to Ado Ekiti in Ekiti State where the stolen unregistered BMW car was taken to and one Isaac Fadairo, the receiver, was equally arrested.

South West Voice learned that Isaac was to help the two brothers to register the car and he billed them N35,000 but they had given him only N10,000 deposit before the cat was let out of the bag.
The suspects, it was learned, had negotiated with a dealer who had agreed to buy the N4million car for N700,000.

Police are still on the trail of the dealer who had fled on hearing that the boys have been arrested.

In an interview, the owner of the stolen car, Sola,  said that he just developed courage to wrestle the gun from one of the robbers when he discovered that they were not really professional armed robbers.
He said when he took the gun to the Police station, the policemen on duty were astonished.

“I had to explain to them how the robbery incident happened and how I wrestled the gun from one of the two robbers before they could believe me.

South-West Voice spoke with one of the suspects Adekunle who said that the failed operation was their first.

Adekunle said they regretted their action and asked God to forgive them.

Adekunle confessed that the car had been sold for N700,000 to a buyer who will resell for the original price.

He confessed that they were told that snatching  unregistered cars will fetch more money because it will be sold to a dealer who will pay good money and will in turn sell it as brand new vehicle to unsuspecting buyer.
Speaking on the 27 suspected criminals arrested in the month of February, the state Police Commissioner, Isaac Eke, said they include 10 suspected members of secret cults, a rapist   and three suspected house breakers.

Eke said that the criminals were arrested in different parts of the state.

According to him, one vehicle and three arms were recovered from the suspects.

He said the suspects were arrested in Ifon, Ore, Iju, Ondo, Owo and Akure, the state capital.
The Police chief pointed out that the suspects will be arraigned in Court while efforts are in top gear to arrest other members of the gang.

On the rapists, Eke said that the suspected rapists will soon be charged to court after preliminary investigations are completed.

Eke vowed that the command is determined to rid the state of criminal elements

The Police boss said that the intervention of “seasoned officers and men of the Ondo State Command curtailed criminal activities in the state last month.