•How stolen phone led to suspects’ arrest
By Funke Busari
They never said they were innocent of the crime they allegedly committed. But after their arrest, they told the police that they were ignorant of the mission of their friends at a robbery scene in Ijebu-Ode area of Ogun State.
Muyiwa Juwon Adebola and Lukman Ogunmuyiwa blamed bad company for their predicament. But Lukman apparently forgot he had earlier confessed to his involvement in some criminal activities in the past, which had even caused him a brief sojourn in prison.
The Ogun State Police Command told Saturday Sun that the suspects were part of a criminal gang which operates in Ogun State but retreats to Lagos after their operations. Some of them, it was gathered, have their hideouts in Mushin area of Lagos where detectives usually smoke them out.
According to Muyiwa, six members of the gang went for the operation. The rest include Ajie, Yusuf, Lukman and Frank.
Muyiwa was arrested after one of the stolen phones was tracked. He then assisted the police in smoking out Lukman. They’re now in police net.
According to the Ogun State Police Command, detectives tracked one of the communication gadgets stolen during a robbery operation. This led officers to the base of the suspects in Mushin area of Lagos where Lukman was arrested. The rest are on the run, the police said.
The police said further that a distress call was received at Igbeba Divisional Headquarters in Ijebu-Ode on March 26, 2023.
Information gathered revealed that there was an invasion of New Site, Imoru Ijebu at about 1:30a.m by a six-man gang.
By their mode of operation, they were no novices. The house has a security fence secured by electric wires, but these intruders found their ways around the fence and gained entrance into the seemingly fortified building.
The robbers dispossessed their victims of their belongings, including laptops, 32 different phones and a GLK Mercedes Benz car with registration number KRD 570 HM at gunpoint.
The police responded, but all the suspects escaped from the robbery scene, it was gathered.
The police spokesperson in Ogun State, Abimbola Oyeyemi, a Superintendent of Police said the gang, on sighting the policemen, took to their heels.
It was gathered that 39-year-old Muyiwa who was the rider of the motorcycle that conveyed the suspects to the crime scene was arrested at Olisa area of Ijebu-Ode. The two are currently being detained at the State Police Command in Eleweran, Ogun State.
According to the police, upon interrogation, Muyiwa informed detectives that the gang members were based in Lagos, and he led the officers to Mushin where the second suspect, Lukman, who also allegedly confessed to participating in the robbery was picked up.
In a chat with Saturday Sun, Muyiwa, said he attended Our Saviour Primary School, Ijebu-Ode but works as a commercial motorbike rider and a scrap worker. He said he was unaware that Oke, one of his friends, was a robber.
He explained that his friend only asked him to convey him and some persons to where they worked. But he could not explain why such movement to a workplace should be taking place in the middle of the night.
His words: “I did not know they wanted to rob that day. I took them there and dropped them off. Initially, I carried two persons to the location and three other people later. Then I returned to where I usually work with scrap.”
He said Oke, who he said owned the motorbike he worked with, called him to join them after he had earlier dropped them off.
He narrated that after conveying the gang, he noticed their suspicious mission.
According to him, “I was outside, I didn’t enter at all, I was already walking away before a vehicle appeared behind me. They had just robbed and they had collected phones, laptops and a GLK 330 car which they drove away from the scene.”
He confirmed that Frank cut the electric wire used as a security fortification against intruders.
Muyiwa said the other gang members who had two guns scaled the fence to gain entrance into the house, claiming he was just waiting outside without any weapon.
He said after the robbery, the men met him on the road. They were driving the stolen vehicle, he recalled.
“They parked beside me around 5:00 a.m. I entered the car and we travelled to Lagos. That was how I knew where they were lodging in Mushin. As I was about returning to Ijebu-Ode, Oke gave me a phone to keep for him.”
But that was the phone that gave them away, as the detectives were able to track it.
Three days later, Muyiwa led the police to the hotel where Lukman was picked up.
“It was the phone he asked me to give to someone to keep that was tracked to where I kept it and that was how I was arrested and I took them to Lukman,” he claimed.
He also stated that even before their arrest, the gang members had tried to outsmart one another, leading to a quarrel.
“It was discovered that Lukman had hidden one Samsung phone, while Frank also hid a Samsung phone as well. It was when we got to Lagos in their lodge that all the hidden gadgets were discovered,” Muyiwa told the reporter.
Also speaking to Saturday Sun, 35-year-old Lukman, from Ayetoro Yewa in Ogun State, said he was trained by one of his uncles as a butcher, but he left him more than a decade ago to work as a commercial motorcyclist, because he was always going bankrupt in his trade.
He confessed that prior to that time, he used to sell illicit drugs known as Colorado until the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA) busted him at Igando area of Lagos.
He claimed that he went into drug business when operatives of the Lagos State Task Force from Alausa in Lagos the confiscated motorcycles he got on hire purchase.
Going back memory lane, he said that on March 19, 2023, he called his friend, Yusuf who supplied him the drug for financial assistance. He said Yusuf had another offer for him. In his words, Yusuf said if he, Lukman could follow him to Ijebu, Lukman would be able to get some money.
He said upon getting to Ijebu, his friend called one Oke on phone. Lukman said Muyiwa and Oke conveyed them to the crime scene around 1:00a.m.
“After dropping us at the house, we robbed the people. Four persons entered the house – Oke, Yusuf, Ajie and Frank, while Muyiwa was instructed to stay outside. I was instructed to stay at the security post while others held the guard hostage and led him into the house.”
He said they entered the house after kicking open the security guard’s door. He said Frank was the person that climbed the fence to cut the electric wire, after which he opened the door for the four others to enter the house.
He said Ajie collected the keys of the car from the owner and drove the car after others had entered.
According to him, Ajie said they would only use the car to get away and abandon it later so that the owner could find it. He said when they got to Mushin, he alighted from the car. He said he did not know what later transpired among the other suspected robbers.
He told Saturday Sun that he sold the Samsung phone for N35,000.
He also recalled that he had been in Kirikiri Prison for about six months for a motorcycle theft. “I was not the one who actually stole it but a friend of mine who is now late,” he said. He added that he knew it was a stolen item and he was given N25,000 from the sale. He also stated that his friend escaped but he was arrested in his friend’s place.
Lukman, who claimed he is married and has a child, is pleading that the government should show him mercy.
“What happened is a mistake, and this is my first time of following them to Ijebu, I don’t know the place before.”