Two members of a notorious armed robbery gang that specialized in breaking into Automated Teller Machines, ATM, in Lagos and other states in the South West, have been arrested by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, Ikeja Lagos.
The suspects identified as Oyefimide Tobi,23, and 29-year-old Olatunji Oluwagbemiga, met their waterloo when members of their gang
It was reliably gathered that the gang met stiff resistance from some policemen on guard at the bank. The gang leader, identified as Dele Olanrewaju, a.k.a. Babalamu, was gunned down by the policemen during the operation and some documents found on him aided policemen in their investigations.
Police sources disclosed that the Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, ordered a full investigation into the case. According to our source, the Officer in-Charge of SARS, Abba Kyari, who took over the investigation, went on the trail of the robbers and it was gathered that a key member of the gang had traveled abroad.
“We were looking for other suspects, while Oluwagbemiga had traveled abroad, we got an intelligence report that a gang of armed robbers that snatched a car at Ijebu-Ode wanted to sell it. When we got to the scene, the robbers shot at us and we retaliated. But, we ended up arresting two members of the gang and when we interrogated them, they turned out to be members of the robbery gang that specialized in ATM robberies.
One of the arrested suspects, Oluwagbemiga tells his story: “
I became an armed robber in 2012 when my boss at the wood market chased me out of his shop. I really don’t know what I did but I discovered he was seriously angry with me when I impregnated my girl and he sent me out.
“Then, I met one Waheed, who specialized in burgling peoples houses. First, he was giving me money when he discovered I was jobless and later he asked me to join him. I was based in Shagamu and he used to take me to Ibadan to break into people’s shops.
We did several jobs in Ibadan and he was paying me any amount he liked. I also discovered that his main targets were grocery stores and after the burglary, he would take the items for sale and give me any amount he liked. I was content with it and I was managing. In late 2012, he decided to go alone and he was caught. I learnt he was lynched by a mob in the area where he went for burglary.
“Few weeks later, I met one Dele Olanrewaju, aka, Babalamu, at Shagamu and I told him that I was in need of a job. He then introduced me to his line of business which was ATM robbery.
He told me that we didn’t have to kill anyone and all we had to do was to come to the bank at a designated time and strike by breaking into the bank’s ATM. He told me that he had all the equipment for the job and all he wanted was for me to be at the scene watching for intruders.
Our first operation
“My first job with him was at Ondo State. I can’t remember the exact location and the name of the bank, but the village we went to was around Owo, and I discovered that the town was his home town. He called me on the day of the operation and asked that I should meet him at a spot with other members of the gang and we proceeded to the bank. He had all the equipment in his car and my job was to carry the gas cylinders and watch out for intruders. He had an AK 47 rifle which we use and he was the one that carried it. “We didn’t meet any security man at the scene of my first operation and everything went well. My share after the operation was N85,000.00 and I saved it. Few weeks later, he called me again and said that he has spotted another bank at Ijebu-Igbo. After we assembled at the scene, we watched the security men leaving the bank at the close of work and we moved in.
“At the end of the operation, I was given N250,000 and I added it to what I had and bought a car at a price of N1.3million. Things changed for me after wards, my mother learnt I was into robbery and she vowed to lay a curse on me if I didn’t stop. I quickly sold my car and decided to travel abroad. I first secured a Nigerian passport from which I applied for a visa to Dubai because I was told I could get jobs easily in Dubai.
Trip to Dubai
“While I was on this, I told my chairman, Babalamu about it and he became very angry. He asked me not to leave him because he trusted my judgment and I told him that I had made up my mind to quit the job. Two days before I traveled out of the country, I got a call from a member of our gang, JK, who informed me that Babalamu has been killed in an operation and that the police were trying to trail members of the gang through a mobile phone that was found on him. “I quickly traveled to Dubai and I spent over 23 days and got a job as a waiter. I came back to Nigeria to renew my visa and I was having only N30,000. I also needed N120,000 for my tickets and the only way I could achieve that was through robbery. I called JK and one of our friends and we went to Ijebu-Ode and robbed a car. Afterwards, I called Toyin to connect me to some buyers. While Toyin was saying that buyers were on ground, I didn’t know that the police were trailing us and they arrested me and Toyin at the point of exchange,” he stated.
