Two suspected armed robbers, Ibukun Ajayi and Gbenga Opeyemi, who made operators of Point of Sale (PoS) business their targets for robbery attacks have spoken on how the tide turned against them, leading to their arrests after their last botched operation.
The two suspects were nabbed by operatives of Osun State Police Command for allegedly robbing PoS operators in Ikirun town at gunpoint, carting away their cash and other valuables, and inflicting injuries on them in order to have their way unhindered.
The state Commissioner of Police, Wale Olokode, in a press briefing last Tuesday, said that police swung into action when PoS operators within Ikirun town wrote a petition addressed to the command on March 30, 2022, that in the same month, gunmen had trailed them from their shops to their houses, using guns and other weapons to rob them of their cash, phones and other valuables worth about N5 million. They reported that the robbery incidents occurred on different days and at different times and places.
Nigerian Tribune also gathered that one of the victims of the armed robbers had his head inflicted with deep machete cuts and had to go for surgery to take care of the injury. Another victim was said to have had several teeth knocked off his mouth with heavy blows landed on his face while yet another is still undergoing x-rays as he was hit in the chest during the robbery operation.
CP Olokode said that the robbers’ activities were halted when police operatives analysed the intelligence gathered, leading to the arrest of the suspects and the receiver of the stolen items.
Recovered from the suspects were a cut-to-size gun, a single barrel gun, jack knife, four cell phones and two Bajaj motorcycles.
The police commissioner said that the suspects would be arraigned in court after the completion of investigations.
In an interview, Ajayi, aged 23, and an indigene of Omu Aran in Kwara State but residing in Ikirun, Osun State with his brother, said that he was an okada rider before going into crime.
‘‘I was arrested for armed robbery. This is my third time of robbing a Point of Sale (PoS) operator, and it led to my injury. I started in March. The PoS operator I attacked collected cutlass from us and slashed me with it. We carried out the operation at about 8pm,’’ Ajayi disclosed.
Mode of operation
According to Ajayi, “we usually target PoS operators and would lie in wait for them until they close from office at night.
“My gang member and I would follow our target on our motorcycle until he gets to his residence in a car or on a motorcycle. We would then strike as he would be entering his residence.
‘‘We have a motorcycle bought for the robbery operations. Aside from the cutlass, we also have a gun brought by my gang member. It belonged to his late grandfather who was a hunter. We got about N200,000 from the first two operations but the third one was foiled by our targeted victim.”
How the last operation failed
“As usual, we followed our target who drove in his car. As he got down, my partner-in-crime, Opeyemi, went to meet him, brandishing cutlass. The man ran but Opeyemi went after him. They both fell down, struggling. However, the target was smarter and more powerful than him. He collected the cutlass from Opeyemi and inflicted cuts on me. Eventually, Opeyemi was able to escape as he jumped on our motorcycle. I managed to join him and we sped off. Unfortunately, Ope’s phone fell during the struggle with the victim. That was how it was picked and used to track us down’’.
In his confession, Opeyemi, a primary school leaving certificate holder and motorcycle technician, said that he started robbery operation with Ajayi in March after meeting him when he came to his workshop. ‘‘My mother’s lineage was into hunting, so I used to go to the bush to hunt for animals. Ajayi noticed that I used to go hunting with a gun. We were discussing on a particular day and I told him that I needed money to start selling engine oil. We talked on what could be done to get money and we both agreed to go into robbing PoS operators.
“That was how we went for the first operation. I didn’t know how much we got but Ajayi gave me N40,000. I got about N60,000 after the second operation. It was at the third operation that we were overpowered,” Opeyemi narrated.
Crying profusely, the suspect, who could not ascertain his age, said that he was ashamed of his act, as he had put his heavily-pregnant wife in psychological distress.
He said that he started smoking cannabis in 2022.