Police kill daredevil robbers who attacked Ogun residents

 

                             Three suspected armed robbers met their Waterloo in Osogbo, Osun State, as they died after sustaining bullet wounds during a shootout with the operatives of Special-Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) in the early hours of Friday. Saturday Tribune gathered that the suspects, who came in an unregistered Lexus car for a robbery operation, went to Oke Baale area of Osogbo, opposite Osun State Broadcasting Corporation (OSBC), to attack the residentsat about 2.00 a.m.
Some of the residents, it was learnt, sent a distress call to the officer in charge of SARS in Osun State Police Command, DSP Adekunle Omoyele, and he was said to have led a team of operatives to the scene immediately.

Saturday Tribune further gathered that on getting to the scene, the policemen learnt that the armed robbers had robbed one Alhaja Ganiyat Kolapo of her personal belongings while the hoodlums also went away with her Toyota Camry car with registration number LND 847 AJ.

Omoyele and his team reportedly chased the armed robbers towards Ibokun road. The robbers reportedly abandoned the Toyota Camry and fled into the bush.

Meanwhile, the SARS men were said to have started combing a nearby bush when they noticed an oncoming bus followed by a car which model was later discovered to be Lexus.

A police source who craved anonymity told Saturday Tribune that as SARS operatives waved the bus driver to a stop, the driver of the Lexus car made an attempt to overtake the bus and fired sporadically at the police in order to escape.

Undeterred, the policemen pursued the hoodlums towards Ibokun road and got close to them at a spot close to Egbeda Village where the hoodlums reportedly stopped and engaged the SARS operatives in a gun battle, as a result of which three of them sustained bullet wounds and died.

Saturday Tribune learnt that the Toyota Camry belonging to their victim and the unregistered Lexus for the robbery were recovered by the police. One of them was said to have escaped with bullet wounds and arms used by the robbers.

When the Lexus was searched, it was gathered that a laptop, digger, knife, charms, assorted phones, three ATM cards, one cut-to-size double barrel gun, seven live cartridges, five expended cartridge shells, and some rough naira notes totaling about N36,000, as well as the driver’s licence belonging to their victim were recovered. The victim was said to have identified the corpses as those of the hoodlums who came to rob her.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in Osun State Police Command, DSP Folasade Odoro, confirmed the incident, saying that the corpses had been deposited at the State Hospital Osogbo mortuary for autopsy. She added that efforts were on to get the fleeing hoodlums.

One of the victims, Alhaja Kolapo, told Saturday Tribune that two of the hoodlums gained entry into her apartment after cutting the net and burglar proof on one of the windows.

“One of them entered and went to the kitchen door to open it for the second robber. They did not bother to switch on the light as they made use of a torch light with strong halogen bulb which they brought. They ransacked the house and picked all they wanted. They saw the key of the Camry and took it also,” she narrated.

Another victim, Kareem Adebayo, said the armed robbers also visited him and his younger brother before going to Kolapo’s house. He said they collected the cash found with him and tied him with a rope at the backyard.

“They came into my house through the window which burglar proof was cut. They demanded for money and I gave them N40,000. They saw my car key, took it and demanded for my ATM card. They said they would take me to an ATM to withdraw the N47,000 they saw as my account balance. I told them the ATM card was in the car.

“They were searching the car for the ATM card when they found the N150,000 I kept there. They started beating me, saying that I lied that I didn’t have money. One of them also wanted to rape my wife and when she told him that she was pregnant, he still wanted to go ahead and had already worn his shirt inside out.

“She was saved because by then, my brother had been able to free himself and he jumped over the fence to alert neighbours. When the neighbours were coming, the hoodlums lay flat on the ground, and as one of the neighbours, one Owolabi Mohammed, got to where they lay, one of the armed robbers stood and hit his head with a digger, resulting in a deep gash. That was how they ran away with my money and my car key,” Adebayo also said.

The two victims praised the efforts of the SARS in responding promptly. Mr Adebayo said he was already on his way to a network service provider to retrieve his line when he received information that he should come to SARS to check some of the items found with the dead hoodlums and identify them.

Alhaja Kolapo also told Saturday Tribune that “I am highly impressed with the immediate response of the police. I am happy that they recovered the items taken from me and got my tormentors.”