Why we shot DPO —Armed robbery suspect arrested in Ogun

A 31-year-old armed robbery suspect, Ganiyu Wasiu (31), who was arrested on Wednesday, September 13, 2017, few hours after his gang shot and injured a police officer, has said that his gang leader shot the officer (DPO) when he burst into their room in a hotel and declared them to be under arrest.

Wasiu also told Saturday Tribune that he once worked as a bike rider with the dreaded armed robber, Abiodun Egunjobi a.k.a. Godogodo who was arrested on August 1, 2013 after he had killed several people, including policemen during his operations.

The suspect was among the suspects paraded by the state commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, on Wednesday, October 4, 2017 at the headquarters of Ogun State Police Command, Eleweran, Abeokuta.

According to Wasiu, in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, “I was an okada operator.  I was among those who shot the DPO of Ogbere Division. Three of us were involved – Azeez, Mungo Park and I.

“The DPO never offended us. Three of us lodged in a hotel at Itele-Ijebu, and at a point, Azeez said he wanted to go and buy food. Immediately he left, the DPO entered the room we were in and asked for the number of people there. We told him we were two.

“He then brought out his gun and told us to kneel down; that we were under arrest. Mungo Park had hidden a gun under the bed and he quickly brought it out and fired at the DPO.

“Immediately he was brought down, I ran out of the room, but I heard more shots. Mungo Park called me back, telling me to pick the DPO’s gun. We then took his gun and escaped from the hotel into the bush. The DPO was not the only police personnel in the hotel at that time; there were about six other policemen, but when they heard guns firing, the rest moved to other locations in the hotel.

“From where we hid in the bush, we called Azeez and warned him not to go to the hotel again because of what happened. Azeez was the one who initially booked the hotel for us, so he said he would get a commercial motorcyclist to take us out of the bush.

Before we left, Mungo Park gathered our guns and the ones taken from the DPO together and buried them somewhere in the bush. Unfortunately for us, as we came out of the bush, we saw operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in the state and were arrested.”

Wasiu also revealed that he had once been an inmate at Agodi Prisons, Ibadan, Oyo State, over a case of stolen motorcycle. “I was living in Ibadan then, and I purchased a motorcycle on instalment payment basis.

“Unfortunately, the motorcycle was stolen at Felele area of the city and I was arrested and arraigned in court in 2013. I was in prison for three years. I returned to Ijebu in Ogun State after my release.

Before he was remanded in prison, the suspect said he used to carry the notorious armed robber, Godogodo with his motorcycle.

“Godogodo used to send me on errand. Sometimes, he would ask me to go and deliver a bag containing guns and ammunition to one of his gang members popularly called 30-kobo.

“That was around 2013. But by the time Godogodo was arrested, I was already in prison,” Wasiu further told Saturday Tribune.

My other criminal operations

This year, Azeez, Mungo Park, I and eight others kidnapped a man who was travelling in his vehicle at Ogbere area. The following day, we got N1.2 million from his family before releasing him. I got N80,000 as my share.

“But we didn’t release the vehicle back to the owner. Mungo Park told one of us, J-Boy, to dispose of the vehicle, but J-boy took it to Delta State and started using it. That was how he was arrested with the vehicle.

“Mungo Park is the owner of the Ak-47 rifle and other guns we were using for operation. I don’t know how he came about the guns, but he is Igbo and comes for operation in Ogun. I just met Mungo Park this year, but I had been involved in armed robbery years before then.

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“I started armed robbery with Azeez. We used to patrol highways to rob passengers and vehicle owners when their vehicle broke down. I was making between N5,000 and N7,000 in one operation then. The highest money I made in crime was N80,000, which Mungo Park gave me after we kidnapped the traveller. “

It will be recalled that the leader of the gang, Mungo Park, was shot dead when the SARS operatives tackled the gang members in the bush after they shot the Divisional Police Officer in Ogbere Division, CSP Adeyinka Akingbade.

Also recovered from the suspects were two AK-47 rifles, one of which was taken from the DPO after he was shot, and 120 rounds of live ammunition.

Saturday Tribune learnt that the DPO received information about the presence of armed robbers in a hotel at Itele-Ijebu at about 7:00a.m on September 13, prompting him to lead his men to the hotel.

The DPO was reported to have been shot severally at close range, with bullets penetrating his legs, hands and stomach, after which the armed men left with his AK-47 rifle.

Piqued by the armed robbers’ action, the Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu had ordered the officer in-charge of the state’s Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (F-SARS), DSP Uba Adams to fish out the hoodlums within 24 hours.

The efforts of the operatives paid off after about six hours when the hideout of the robbers in a bush at Itele-Ijebu was located, resulting in the arrest of two of the gang members and the killing of the leader, Mungo Park.

The police commissioner, Iliyasu, who was happy with the success of the FSARS operation, described the injured officer as one of the best performing DPOs in his command.

Saturday Tribune that the DPO had gone through surgeries to remove bullets buried in his body and was still recuperating in the hospital where the surgery was performed.