Oluwatoyin Malik

Four suspects arrested for alleged armed robbery have confessed to operatives of the Osun State Police Command how they successfully invaded homes in Osogbo, Osun State, carting away vehicles and other valuables, while descending on uncooperative victims with machetes, slashing their heads in fury. They also told the police how they usually took the stolen vehicles to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja for sale before nemesis caught up with them during their last operation. The suspects were identified as Temitope, Olajide, Imisi, and Yemi. Recovered from them were a Toyota Avalon, Toyota Venza, Lexus ES 300, and an unregistered Toyota Camry (Muscle), 2010 model. Other recovered items included an iPhone 16 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S20, two Tecno Pro 10 phones, one iPhone 12, one iPhone 11 Pro Max, and one iPhone X. The Commissioner of Police, Osun State Command, Ibrahim Gotan, while briefing journalists on the arrest, narrated how the complainant, Oluwatobi (names withheld), reported on September 5 that four armed men invaded his residence, inflicted machete cuts on his head and body, and forcibly collected his iPhone 16 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S20 before driving away in his Toyota Avalon. The CP said: “Immediately, the Anti-Robbery Section of the State Criminal Investigation Department swung into action. Through intelligence-led investigation, three of the suspects — Oke Temitope, Odewale Olajide, and Ajewole Imisi — were arrested on September 6 at their hideout in Gwagwalada, Abuja.” He added: “Meanwhile, the leader of the robbery syndicate, one Ariyo Yemi, was arrested in his hideout in Osogbo.” The police boss said the suspects confessed to having stolen several vehicles in Osogbo before their arrest, noting that car theft had drastically reduced since their apprehension. Saturday Tribune gathered that the suspects were arrested in a hotel they lodged in, in Abuja. Soldiers who trailed them reportedly knocked on the doors of their rooms one after the other. The first to be arrested was Imisi. After him, they went to Jide’s room, but immediately he saw them, he quickly shut and locked the door. They were said to have gone after Temitope, whom they also got. Unknown to them, however, was Jide’s plan to escape. Suddenly, they heard a crash of glass — Jide had punched through the window and jumped out from the second floor of the hotel. As he landed, he scaled the hotel fence and jumped into the compound of the next building. He was, however, pursued and caught. The soldiers later took the suspects to a nearby police station. It was also learnt that the armed robbers allegedly used a device to block vehicle trackers so they would not be trailed. They were reportedly shocked by their arrest, wondering whether they had been followed from Osogbo to Abuja. Saturday Tribune sought the victim, Oluwatobi, for an interview, and he narrated his ordeal: “In the early hours of September 5, around 4 a.m., I returned from a church vigil with my wife. She went to sleep straight away while I went to the toilet. I started hearing a ruffling sound where the car shed was and wondered why birds were disturbing me. “I opened the window curtains and saw one of the armed robbers, whom I later knew as Temitope. He was dressed in black and wore a mask, holding a cutlass. He was trying to force our gate open. I didn’t know they were already within our premises when we came in from church — they had hidden there. “I thought he was a lone thief who just came to steal something. I shouted ‘ole! ole!’ (thief! thief!) and started running towards our sitting room to check if we had locked the exit door by the kitchen. To my surprise, I saw two armed robbers, also wearing black with nose masks. It was like magic to me because I didn’t know how they got in. “I ran into a room and my wife ran into another. They started banging the doors. I became afraid they might injure my wife, so I opened the door of the room I was in. As I did, two of them started using the machetes they held to inflict cuts on me. Bleeding, I struggled with them until I pulled off Temitope’s mask. “I came out of the house and opened the gate to escape into safety, but I remembered that my wife and cousin were inside. I went back and they continued using the machetes on me. I lost so much blood. At a point, I could hardly breathe. I pleaded with them to be patient with me, telling them to pick my keyless car’s remote sensor from the sitting room. The gang leader, Yemi, was so ruthless. He is not fit to live among people.” Oluwatobi said that after taking away his car, phones, and other property, the robbers took another route to avoid areas where soldiers were stationed. Though he said he could not track the car because it had been jammed, he managed to take some steps that aided the discovery of how the suspects were moving. That same morning, the suspects took the car to Abuja but were apprehended in the hotel they lodged in at night, it was gathered. Speaking further, Oluwatobi said: “I was able to do something (information withheld). A brother helped me to trail them to the hotel they lodged in. While taking my car to Abuja, they threw away my voter’s card and driver’s licence. They went away with my wristwatch and gold chain which they ripped off my wrist. “They could not relax because I kept shouting to raise an alarm among neighbours. No one could come out because of fear. The cutlasses the armed robbers used were so sharp. Aside from my head, there were cuts on other parts of my body. The doctor had to suture my head.” During interrogation, one of the suspects, Temitope, aged 42, from Kabba in Kogi State, narrated his involvement: “I have been in Osogbo for three years. I had a shop there. I was into gearbox repair. I was arrested for armed robbery and car snatching. We were using cutlasses and sticks as weapons. “What happened was that a man I helped to repair his vehicle gearbox was not satisfied, so he brought some boys to beat me. They were five in number. However, Yemi, the gang leader, was among them. He told the others not to touch me. We exchanged numbers and became friends. “My job took me to Ibadan to repair gearboxes for transport union leaders. Yemi called me while I was there. On my return to Osogbo, I went to a hotel and called him. Before then, I had a problem with a customer whose money for a gearbox I had spent. So, when Yemi came, he said we should go for an armed robbery operation. My role was to drive vehicles from the scene of robbery. “At the first operation, we were unsuccessful. Four of us were involved — Yemi, Imisi, AY, and I. On July 23, we went for another one where we got a Toyota Camry, popularly called Spider, 2012 model. I was with Yemi, Jide, and another gang member, AY. “Our mode of operation was to go to houses at about 1 a.m. We would jump the fence of the targeted house and force the door of the apartment open. A couple lived there, and when the husband heard our movement, he asked, ‘Who is that?’ We announced our presence. “The man tried to stop us from coming in, but we overpowered him. AY started inflicting machete cuts on his head. Blood was flowing from the cuts. Till we finished our operation, the man could not say anything again. Yemi took his car key from him and gave it to me. “Yemi went ahead to remove the victim’s plasma TV and home theatre and put them in their cartons. He also collected the receipts of the items. He collected the couple’s phones also. We finished about 2 a.m. and left the place. “One of our gang members, Imisi, who followed us for the first operation but decided not to go again, was the one getting buyers for the stolen vehicles. He had told us that he could conveniently sell 100 vehicles if we could get them. He waited for me at our usual hotel. I knew Imisi at Egbeda Police Station in Ibadan. “He was the one who used to drive the vehicles to Abuja to sell to the buyer he had connections with. I usually accompanied him. At Gwagwalada, we would take the vehicle to a car wash for cleaning. Next place was the hotel we would stay in, during which he would negotiate with the buyer and get paid. “We would throw the vehicle documents into the bush on our way to Abuja. Imisi would call two Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs) that he used to interact with. He would ask them to delete the initial registration details and replace them with another. He would also ask for a backdate of the registration. They always got the papers ready before we reached Abuja. “At the second operation, we got a Toyota Venza 2010 model. I was with Yemi and Jide. Usually, before the operation, we would go round some neighbourhoods to survey houses we could invade. We would look for those that had posh cars, and the model would not be less than 2010. “We were around the house where we got the Venza car at about 9 p.m. We hid in the bush until 12 midnight. When we came out, we didn’t see any car. We were coming out of an area when we sighted a car approaching us. We quickly hid until the car zoomed past us. We all went after it, but Jide was faster. He noticed where the car went and came back to tell us. “When we got there, the occupants had put on their generator. We jumped in and tried to forcibly open the door, but we could not. One of the occupants came to open it for us, and we went in. “We scared them with the cutlasses we held. I took two phones from the sitting room and Yemi demanded for them. I gave him. Yemi asked our victim for his ATM card pin and the passwords of his phones, which the man did. Yemi also opened the man’s wardrobe and took his shoes, iPhone box, and MP3. He also took the man’s car key and handed it to me. “As I turned the vehicle for easy exit, I noticed that Jide had taken the victim’s plasma TV to put in the vehicle, but I took it from him and dropped it at the house entrance, telling him that it could expose him since he lived in Ibadan and would have no place to hide it. And we couldn’t take it to the hotel we were staying in without raising suspicion. “Jide asked Yemi for the pin and password he collected from the victim, but Yemi replied that he couldn’t remember again despite the fact that he typed them on his personal phone. That generated argument again, but it eventually died down. I later learnt from Jide that Yemi got gold from the victim but didn’t tell me. “I called Imisi from the hotel, and we moved towards Abuja immediately. On getting there, Imisi went to negotiate on the sale of the car while I stayed in the hotel we lodged in so as not to raise any suspicion by the buyer. “We got a Toyota Lexus 330 car at the third operation. Imisi told me he sold it for ₦2.3 million, but we later learnt after our arrest that the buyer paid ₦2.8 million. “The fourth vehicle was a Toyota Camry Muscle (O Tel). We did the operation in Ikirun. Imisi told us he sold it for ₦5 million, but we later knew that the buyer paid ₦6.2 million.” The Last Operation “Yemi, Timileyin, Jide, and I went to Ibokun area to work that day. At first, we were unsuccessful, and Yemi told us to go to another area. I reminded him that soldiers used to be there, but he said there would be no problem as we would not get to them before we moved towards the targeted place. “As we were going, we saw a car approaching, just like in our second operation. It was a Toyota Avalon car, 2013 model. We had initially checked the house the driver was moving into without seeing any car. Jide asked us to rush at the man, but we decided to hold on. We hid somewhere. It was almost 4 a.m. “His fence was high, so it was difficult for us to go in, but we eventually scaled the gate. The man in the house started shouting ‘thief, thief’ before we got in, but that didn’t stop us. We succeeded in entering, but the victim rushed out to raise alarm. Timileyin, who was at the gate, quickly held him, but he still extricated himself. “We all went after him and got him. Timileyin started giving him machete cuts on the head. We dragged him back into his house with his head and face covered with blood as he was bleeding heavily. We tried to look for the remote sensor of his keyless car. His noise was so much that we knew his neighbours were awake. “Yemi started searching until he got the remote sensor of the car. I took his two phones. We always locked our victims in their toilets or pantries, but the last one was too tough for us. We couldn’t lock him in, so we left him and drove off. We switched off the car’s lights so that he would not see the direction we would go through. “At almost 6 a.m., we picked Imisi. Yemi asked for the phones with me, saying that he wanted to get money from the bank account, but I refused to give him. Imisi, Jide, and I faced Abuja.” As if it was a premonition of what would later happen, Temitope said he started feeling unwell: “When we got to Gwagwalada at the car wash, I started feeling feverish. I couldn’t stand very well again. Imisi got me some medications from a pharmacy. We got to the hotel, and the three of us stayed in separate rooms. Imisi and Jide drove the car out to purchase food that we would eat. It was about 8 p.m. Even, I couldn’t eat. “After midnight, soldiers arrived at the hotel to arrest us. They first got Imisi, then went to Jide’s room. But immediately he saw a soldier, he quickly shut and locked the door. Then they came to my room and picked me. “When I got downstairs, I saw Imisi. In my heart, I knew we were in for it. We were made to sit, waiting for Jide, as it was believed he had no means of escape. The room was on the second floor of the hotel. “Suddenly, we heard a crash of glass. Shortly after, we heard a thud, meaning he jumped from the window. A soldier and one other person went to that side while another soldier watched over me and Imisi. “As Jide landed on the ground, he scaled a fence into another compound. It was there he was pursued and apprehended. We were first taken to the barracks and later handed over to the police. They recovered the car and our victim’s phones. “The police in Abuja informed Osun State Police Command, and operatives came there to bring us back to where we committed the offence. “I got ₦4.7 million as my share from the sale of four vehicles.” Operational Dressing “Our leader, Yemi, used to wear Army camouflage while the rest of us would be in black. Yemi got the camouflage from one of us, Timileyin, who said he saw it at the back of the hotel we were using in Osogbo. I had also seen it before but ignored it. I believe it was abandoned there. Timileyin wanted to wear it for operation, but Yemi forcefully took it from him. Since then, that was what he was always dressed in,” Temitope disclosed. He confessed that he had once been remanded in prison for an offence. “I was arrested by the police in Egbeda Division, Oyo State Police Command, after a report by a customer that I swindled him of ₦400,000 meant for gearbox repair. I met Imisi and Jide there. “We were charged to court and remanded in Agodi Prison on different dates. We didn’t see each other there, and he came out before me. I couldn’t perfect my bail condition quickly. Imisi used to come and visit me. After seven weeks, I was released after the bail condition was perfected. After I regained freedom, we started the robbery operation.” The gang leader, Opeyemi, from Osogbo, aged, confessed: “I was a fashion designer but was arrested for armed robbery. I knew Temitope through a man called Lukman, who introduced us to each other to form an armed robbery gang. Temitope told me that he used to repair gearboxes but would sell vehicles sent to him for repair. “After a while, I couldn’t get him again, not knowing he was in prison. One Niyi connected me with three criminals who came from Lagos State to operate with me. We did just one job together. We stole a Lexus SUV, but I was not given a kobo. That led to our quarrel and separation. “When Temitope returned from prison, he gave me a call and told me to come see him in Ibadan. I went to him and saw Imisi, whom he called an automobile dealer. He told me that it was time to start the business he proposed to me before. That was how we began robbery operations until we were arrested. Temitope was the one we used to take away the phones belonging to our victims. He gave me just one.” Imisi, aged 40 and from Ilesa, who resided in Ibadan, narrated his involvement: “I am a mechanic and had connections with car dealers. In March this year, I helped a customer to buy a car for ₦15 million. After using the car for a month, the buyer said it was too expensive and returned it, asking for his money. I took it to a car stand. After two weeks, someone deposited ₦10 million for the car, which I transferred to the man. For that, he got me arrested. “I met Temitope in the cell. He told me what brought him to the police station. He was arrested in Benin, Edo State, and brought to Ibadan. He said he sometimes had vehicles to sell, and I showed my readiness to sell as I was into the business. “I was charged to court and remanded in prison until my wife and brother came to sign as my sureties. I came out after two weeks. “Temitope also left prison early in July and called me. We met in a hotel in Ibadan. He told me he would call his friend based in Osogbo so that we could discuss together. The following day, Yemi came to Ibadan. The decision was that they would hand over stolen vehicles to me for buyers. I once lived in Abuja and knew a buyer there. But he didn’t know the cars were snatched from owners.” Imisi confirmed that he used vehicle documents renewed by VIO officials in Abuja. In his own confession, Odewole Jide, aged 35 and from Ifewara, said he was the one who used to jam tracking devices in every vehicle. The father of two said he knew Temitope in Ibadan and confirmed that he (Temitope) was the one who asked him to join his robbery gang, which he accepted. Jide added: “It was debt that made me join. I got ₦2.3 million as my share, but it could not take care of my debt, which was ₦3.7 million. “It is true that I jumped out of the window on the second floor. I didn’t know the spirit that entered into me. I was marvelled that I could do such. I didn’t think of what could have happened as I jumped down. I couldn’t bear being arrested. I broke the window glass with my fist. I also jumped over the fence into another premises.”