Losing my bike to armed robbers made me to join crime —Robbery suspect

THE many entry and exit points within Ologuneru and Ile Titun communities in Ido Local Government Areas of Oyo State have made many residents fall victims of armed robbers operating on motorcycles in the past, watching helplessly as their valuables were forcibly taken from them.

But one of the two gang members who struck on July 4, Adegboyega Saheed (32), met his Waterloo as he was nabbed while escaping with the property of two victims they robbed.

Disclosing this to Crime Reports on Thursday, July 14, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Leye Oyebade, said the suspect and his partner in crime, Idris, who is at large, invaded the shop of one Mrs Ogundapo at Ile Titun community of NIHORT area, Ibadan and dispossessed her of valuable property, including N248,000.

“The same hoodlums also robbed one Kikelomo Agbado at about 6.30p.m. same day and dispossessed her of her Samsung phone,” Oyebade said further, adding that a Bajaj motorcycle with registration number KNN 816 VW which was used for the robbery operation was recovered by his command.

One of the victims, Mrs Ogundapo, who spoke with Crime Reports, narrated her experience thus: “At about 6p.m. on Monday July 4, two guys on a motorbike parked in front of my shop at Ile Titun community of NIHORT area, Ibadan. One of them came to me, pointed a gun at me and said ‘Madam, if you shout, we will kill you.

“He picked my ipad and my bag containing N248,000, ATM card and identity card. His partner remained on the bike with its engine running. The bikeman also showed me a knife, warning me to keep quiet or they would waste my life. Immediately they took those things, they sped off. I saw an okada man and pleaded with him to help me pursue them, which he did, but he missed them.

“Fortunately, as he was returning to his house, he saw some people gathered round a thief they apprehended and noticed that he had my phone with him because of my picture on the screen. He came to alert me and I went there. I met policemen there and got my phone back but his partner went away with my bag.”

The suspect, Saheed, who confessed to the crime, said “I went to rob and I was caught. My partner, Idris, and I went to Ile Titun area of Ibadan to rob the residents. He was the one snatching the bags and phones while I waited on the bike, with its engine running, for easy getaway.

“We saw a woman sitting by her shop by the road side. My partner asked me to stop and he went to take the woman’s bag and phone. We did not have any weapon; we only frightened our victim with a phone wrapped with handkerchief which my partner made to look like a gun.

“We left the woman and he directed me to another area. I told him I didn’t have the heart to continue but he said I should be bold. He went to another woman and demanded for her phone and money. I didn’t know what he collected but he jumped on the bike and I sped off. People raised the alarm and we were pursued. Unfortunately for me, he jumped off the bike and escaped while I was caught.”

The suspect said the reason he decided to join his friend for robbery was that he was at his tether’s end and didn’t know how to survive after his bike was snatched in 2015 and he had an accident this year.