By Ifeanyi Okoli

When the lifeless body of an Assistant Superintendent of Custom, ASC, Aliyu Adamu, was found with bullet wounds at a spot close to the Tin-Can Island Port, Second Gate, on Thursday December 22, 2016, many thought that the middle-aged officer may have been assassinated, given the sensitive nature of his position at the Nigeria Customs Service.

But investigations, launched by operatives of the Inspector General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team, IRT, has revealed that, ASC Adamu, was murdered by a gang of armed robbers after snatching from him a bag he was carrying which was believed to have contained a huge amount of money.

The Public Relations Officer at the Tin-Can Island Command of the NCS, Mr. Uche Ejieseme, had disclosed in December, 2016, that the officer, who until his death, was attached to the ‘Ashaye‘ exit gate of the port, was killed at about 10pm on his way home after work. The Command spokesman also said that it was not clear whether the killing was an act of armed robbery or assassination.

According to him; “the officer was blocked while he was on a motorcycle around National Filling station close to Tin-Can. The late officer had a little scuffle with the assailants as they attempted to snatch his bag”.

Vanguard gathered that the Inspector General of Police, Idris Ibrahim, swiftly deployed his operatives at the IRT to trail and apprehend all the suspects involved in the killing when he received reports on the death of the custom officer. Sources disclosed that a mobile phone belonging to the deceased officer was trailed to Tolu area of Ajegunle and found on one Lucky Williams who eventually confessed during interrogation to have taken part in the operation.

His arrest also led to the arrest of a clearing and forwarding agent, Humphrey Aimodu, operating mainly at Tin-Can Island Port and who was said to have been the mastermind of the robbery as he worked closely with the the custom officer. Four others arrested with him were identified as Fayero Egbato, Bolaji Taiwo, Samuel Akinjoye and Abraham Lots.

I told the boy to rob, not to kill him—clearing agent

When Vanguard interviewed one of the suspects, Aimodu, the clearing and forwarding agent, he confessed that he only contracted the robbers to rob the custom officer and not to kill him, adding that he told the boys not to use guns while robbing the officer. The 33-year-old suspect, who is a native of Edo State explained that he was only trying to raise some money to celebrate the last Christmas season.

According to him “It all started on December 20, 2016, five days to Christmas and I was having a conversation with one of my colleagues, Edet Bassy, a clearing agent and I told him how broke I was since we weren’t working the way we used to as the price of dollar has affected the volume of importation. I told him I had no money to celebrate the Christmas with my family and he suggested we could rob ASC Aliyu working at the second gate, where he checked and signed clearing documents.

He told me that the man normally took N8million home everyday as he had been monitoring the officer for a long time. He also said that sometimes, he observed that the man would changes the money to dollar so that it would be easy for him to carry. He told me that he could not do the job because the man knew him while I also told him that the man knew me as well.

We then agreed that I should arrange some boys from the outside who would do the job. I later called one of my friends known as Samson, an Ilaje boy who was living in Tolu area of Agegunle and was familiar with bad boys operating around Tolu.

He then linked me with one Abraham Lots, who he said could do the job. By the evening of the following day, Lots sent two of his boys to me and asked me to take them to the gate where the officer was working. I took them there and showed them the man. After some hours they told us that they could not carry out the operation as they weren’t fully prepared.

Then I told them not to use guns whenever they wanted to rob the man. On 22 December, around 9pm they called me saying they had robbed the man and I should meet them in Adidas field Tolu. When I got there I saw more than eight persons and I learnt that there was a gun shot. When I asked why they shot the man they told me that the man tried to struggle with them when they wanted to snatch the bag and they shot him on the leg. When they opened the bag I saw N500,000 and I took N50,000.

The next day I heard that the custom officer was dead and he was killed by armed robbers. I sensed trouble and I stopped going to work. Then on December 28, 2016, Samson called me and said some of the boys who carried out the robbery have been arrested by the police and he said I should not go to Tin-Can that the police would be looking for me. I went back home and moved my wife and children to Mowe Ibafo where I was eventually arrested on January 2017. It was devil that led me into this”, he lamented.

How we carried out the operation—Akinjoye

Narrating how they carried out the robbery and the eventual killing of ASC Aliyu, Samuel Akinjoye, a 36-year-old native of Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State, said “I am a local fisherman and I am also into oil bunkering and that was where I met Lucky. I stayed in Mogaji area of Ajegunle with my wife and children.

Abraham Lots, who we normally call Ibro, called me and told me about the job, then I called my friend Lucky and we all met Samson who gave us three days to do the job and I told them that I do not have a gun. When they took us to the man, I discovered that we could not rob the man without a gun.

The following day, Lucky brought one Bolaji who had a gun and I took them to Samson and Lots but they told us not to kill the man, that we should just collect the money from him. I was asked to get a motorcycle while Lucky and Bolaji should get a speed boat which we would use to escape. I took the bike to second gate and Humphrey asked us to wait for the man. While we waited, Humphrey informed us that the man was coming, so I alerted Lucky, Bolaji, Ibro and Ochuko, who attacked the man. But before I got to where they were, I heard a gun shot. I didn’t know that the man was killed.”

Why the deceased was shot—William

In his own account, Lucky William, 29-year-old native of Cross River state who snatched the bag containing the money from the custom officer said, “when we held the man he was struggling with us and wanted to fight everyone. Bolaji was the one holding the gun and I didn’t know what came over him before he shot the man who then released the bag immediately. I ran with the bag and we all escaped through the waters to Tolu where we shared the money in the bag. I also got N50,000 as my share” he stated.