Traffic Offence: RRS Nabs Eight In Ojodu Berger

The operatives of Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos Police Command today arrested eight miscreants in Ojodu Berger for extorting motorists and ordering them to park on obstruction in return for fee.

The Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, had directed RRS to clear up the traffic congestion in and out of Ojodu-Berger resulting from the activities of touts in the area.

Those arrested included Adedeji Adewole, George Wudu, Shafun Adigun, Abdullahi Ibrahim, Usman Mohmmed, Segun Owolabi, Afiz Lookman, Saheed Banji and Gbenga Waheed.

One of the passers-by who applauded the move, Barrister Yemi Ayo, commended the State Government for transforming Ojodu-Berger.

“Our main problem is our drivers. They would mess up the entire place…. Everywhere is free now. You can conveniently drive in and drive out. One can only hope that the kind of exercise you are doing here today can be more consistent,” he added.

The miscreants have been transferred to Lagos Taskforce Office in Oshodi for prosecution.

> NURTW and member disowned uniform to escape RRS arrest in Ojodu-Berger.

RRS Mobile CCTV Camera Arrests Oshodi Pickpocket

The newly deployed mobile CCTV camera procured by the Lagos State Government for the operatives of the Lagos Rapid Response Squad has recorded its first surveillance arrest.

The suspect was arrested in Oshodi while the Mobile CCTV was being deployed at Oshodi to monitor the area.

The suspect Emmanuel Alowonle, 18-year old, a native of Ondo State, disclosed during interrogation that he came to Lagos about two years ago and work as a bus conductor in the area.

Alowonle was arrested after stealing from another commuter handbag on the pedestrian walk way.

The mobile CCTV camera was parading oshodi when it sited Emmanuel in the crowd picking from a passer-by handbag.

The CCTV camera was jointly managed and put into use by both the RRS operatives and technical assistance by the Lagos State Response Unit, (LRU).

 

The emergency management parastatal of the Lagos State Government handled the technical knowhow of the camera while men of the RRS took charge of the security aspect of the newly deployed security mechanism.

The surveillance patrol team afterwards patrolled through Ilasa area, mile 2, and Airport road in same manner of test running and putting into use the mobile surveillance technology.

The mobile CCTV is geared towards helping security operatives in close monitoring and wider view of Lagos crime prone areas and also enhances prompt detective ability of security men in the state.

It will be recalled that the Lagos State government in its effort to combat crime in the state gave out the surveillance mobile CCTV to further help in the tracking down criminals and identifying crime scenes in the State.

The Governor while handling over the security mechanism to the Commander RRS said, the present administration is on top of the fulfilment of its triangular tripod agenda which security and empowerment of security operatives lingers on.

Confirming the development, the Police Public Relations Officer, Assistant Superintendent of Police, ASP Olarinde Famous Cole, said that there would be no hiding place for those who come to Lagos to perpetrate crime, adding that the police would fish them out of your hiding.

The suspect have however been charged and handed over to the security task force for further investigation.

Dollar Theft Lands Prophet In Police Net

A man who identified himself as Moses Edwin, a prophet in one of the orthodox churches in Lagos was on Friday arrested by men of Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State Police Command for stealing $500 belonging to a customer while trying to convert $5,000 into Naira.

Edwin, 50, a bureau de-change operator was arrested beside Airport Hotel, Ikeja, along with another member three days after stealing $500 from $5,000 bills presented to them by one Adebayo Lookman for conversion into naira.

Bayo Lookman, a member the National Youth Service Corp serving in Lagos, had in assisting her mother in the exchange of $5,000 to naira drove to Airport Hotel where he met Edwin.

Edwin in changing the $5,000 in $100 notes promised an exchange rate of N387 to a dollar. He thereafter invited another member of his gang, Daniel Ebhohimen who together while confirming the dollars removed $500 before handing over $4500 back to unsuspecting Bayo in his car.

According to Bayo, “I was trying to help my mum change the $5,000. I got to Airport Hotel and I met these men. After negotiating back and forth, they offered me N387 to a dollar.

They took my details on the ground that the transaction was going to be online. Edwin requested that I surrender the $5,000 bills for them to confirm. Reluctantly, I gave them but I was monitoring them and I was counting along with them in my car.”

He went further, “they were mid-way into the counting when another member of the gang distracted me from the driver side of my car. Thereafter, they handed back the money to me that it was complete and we headed to one of the banks in Opebi....

"We entered the bank. All along they prevented me from counting the money. At the bank, they told me the rate they gave me was no longer possible and that they were backing out but I offered for a renegotiation....

"I told them to excuse me and I went into the gent to confirm the money. I counted it and $500 was missing. Before I could come out they had ran away. The door attendants told me he saw them rushing out of the bank.... I went to where I met them but I couldn’t see them. It was the third day that I saw Edwin and I invited the police.”

Edwin in his statement to the police, acknowledged the crime. He stated he never followed the gang to bank, adding that he only ordered his other gang members to finish up the transaction. He added that he was given N10,000 when they came back from the bank.

Edwin there after assured the police that his gang was ready for amicable settlement by paying back the missing $500.

The two suspects have been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigations.

Driver Diverts 600 Bags Of Flour, Sells Off Truck

Operatives of Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State Police Command have arrested a driver who connived with three other persons in diverting his company 600 bags of flour before dismembering the truck for sale in pieces.

The suspect, Garuba Lawal, 36, from Kwara State, connived with three others now at large and diverted the 600 bags of flour to Sagamu, Ogun State. The product was thereafter given out to a buyer, while he took the truck to Ilorin, Kwara state, where it was dismembered and sold in pieces.

Garuba, who was recruited by the company (name withheld) the same day to move the 600 bags of flour to a bakery in Ibadan, Oyo State, was baited with N2 million by his accomplices to do their bidding.

The suspect, in his statement to the police, disclosed that after loading on Sunday at the Nigeria Flour Mills in Apapa, a young man, whose name was later given as Ismaila from Oyo State, approached him for a discussion.

“He invited me close to my truck just as I was about to drive it out of the loading bay. He asked me how much I have made in my life since I have been driving truck. I replied him that I just joined the haulage company…. He asked again, have ever seen money in your life? I said no. He asked me again, if you see N2 million, what would you do with it? I answered him that I would quit this truck driving job. Then, he told me that he would introduce me to a deal. That was how we started.”

Garuba continued, “While his two other colleagues were waiting in the Toyota Corrolla they brought. He took me to a corner and brought a cowrie. He told me that I would have to swallow the cowrie as a sign of bond that anybody that divulge the secret between us would die instantly…. I took the cowrie and swallowed it. Immediately I did that, I observed that whatever instruction he gave me, I was just obeying it without a second thought.”

According to sources, Garuba, in company of the three accomplices diverted the 600 bags of flour to Sagamu instead of its scheduled destination on a Sunday night. They got to Sagamu around 2:25 a.m on Monday.

“We entered Sagamu. It was very early in the morning and I couldn’t identify anywhere so much. All along, they acted as escort for the truck to Sagamu. One of them was in the truck with me because the motor-boy didn’t follow us,” he stated.

The source added that at Sagamu, Garuba was informed that the head of the truck had to be removed for a small one because it could not enter the warehouse the goods were to be offloaded.

“We put a new truck head and they gave me N50,000. We agreed that I drive the truck head to Kwara State in company of two other member of the team to sell it off…. We got to Ilorin around 7:15 a.m. on Monday. I took the two guys to where I live with my wife. They promised to return with my share on N2 million as soon as bank is opened. They collected N15,000 for hotel accommodation from the N50,000:00 they gave me…. When I didn’t see them that day and the following day, I agreed with a buyer to knock down the truck into pieces. The tyres, engine, radiator, chassis, etc for N450,000. After, we had dismembered it, the Rapid Response Squad Lagos arrested me,” he further noted.

Sources at the haulage firm disclosed that they were yet to see the motor-boy that followed him on the said trip. This has fuelled the suspicion that the motor-boy might have been killed by the gang to pave way for a seamless execution of their plans.

Garuba insisted that the motor-boy didn’t follow them on the trip. The motor boy’s phone has remained switched off since the incident.

Investigation revealed that the gang that diverted the flour are the same gang which has been involved in several diversions of other products.

 

Arrested along with him were Jimoh Adeleye, Wasiu Azeez and Adeniran Jacob.

Confirming the development, the Police Public Relations Officer, Assistant Superintendent of Police, ASP Olarinde Famous Cole, said that there would be no hiding place for those who come to Lagos to perpetrate crime, adding that the police would fish them out of their hiding.

All the suspects have been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation and prosecution.

My Father Warned Me Not to Get Involved in Cyber Crime – "Yahoo Boy"

Chukwu-Emeka Egbemude, one of the four suspects arrested by the operatives of Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State Police Command for tricking expensive phone sellers to desolate locations and robbing them afterwards, has disclosed that his father warned him not to use his house as a base for internet crime.

Egbemude, 22, a 200 level drop out of North American University, Cotonu, Benin Republic, was arrested on Wednesday last week in company of three other accomplices, who were fingered in the shooting of a police officer, who attempted to arrest them in one of their botched robbery operations.

The gang leader, Wilfred Ehis, a Chemical Engineering graduate of University of Benin, Benin City, had in his confessional statement to police stated that his task as the leader of the group was to source for expensive phone sellers on online platforms. He pose as a lawyer, order for expensive phones and accessories before waylaying the delivery man and rob him of the consignment at a designated location.

Egbemude, confessed to the police that all he did since dropping out of school was to pick fraud items for online fraudsters as well as put Ehis through on how to carry out online fraud.

He added that he had been lodging from one hotel to the other along with Ehis around LASU-Igando area because his father barred him and his elder brother from using his residence as centre for online fraud.

According to him “I dropped out of school not because I wasn’t brilliant but for my inability to pay my school fees. And, since I returned to Nigeria, I started online fraud and picking fraud items for online fraudsters in and out of Nigeria.”

The first picking job I did was for myself in 2016. Later, I did another job for a “Yahoo Boy” which fetched me $400. I have been into online fraud before I entered school in 2011.”

He continued: “I have done a lot of transaction for boys including those that involved me travelling out of the country. Everybody in the neighbourhood (Afolabi Bus Stop, LASU-Isheri Road) knows the kind of job that I do.

I also help “Yahoo Boys” to pick money, expensive wristwatches and rings. I go to bank to pick up the money for them and I get my 10% or 15% commission on every transaction. I have helped more than 50 boys doing that kind of transaction.”

“My father got to know that I was into online fraud because he sees me carrying laptops and heard me whenever I make calls to my victims and trying to sound like an American…. He called me and told me point blank that I should never in my life use his residence for such business. Since 2015, I have been moving with Ehis, lodging from one hotel to the other in LASU-Igando Area,” he added.

Sources disclosed that apart from being a very close associate of the ring leader of the gang, Egbemude is always with Ehis all the time and he had dealings with Nurudeen, alias Onyabo, the notorious hit man of the group.

According to Wilfred Ehis, Nurudeen has the two guns used by the gang for their operations, and that he sneaked into Lagos through the creeks of Ogun whenever they have operations.

Two of the five victims of the group’s robbery, who identified themselves as Oluwaseyi Sanwo-Sunday and Alabede Habib on interview said that the group used okada for their operations with two guns.

They added that Iyana school Bus Stop, along LASU-Iba Road have been areas where they lured three of them to before dispossessing them of those consignments Ehis posing as Barrister Deji ordered for. 

The suspect along with the gang leader, Wilfred Ehis and two others, Bright Eloho, 24, and Olanrewaju Kamilu, 33, has been transferred to Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Ikeja, Lagos for further investigations.

I Am An Expert In Stealing, I Can Use My Head To Steal Anything - Pickpocket Suspect

The operatives of Rapid Response Squad, (RRS) of Lagos State Police Command,  has arrested a pick-pocket suspect who claimed to be an expert in stealing.

The suspect, popularly known as ‘Dayo Skippo,’ after he was arrested at Ikeja-Under-Bridge told RRS decoy team in an interrogation that he has been in the theft act for a long time. He added that it is the current economic situation that led him into the crime.

The suspect, a secondary school drop-out further explained that all he needs to do is to have the slightest physical contact with his victim and their valuables are gone. “I can use my head to remove anything from your body. I will just pretend as if I know you somewhere and in the process of giving you salutations, your item is gone,” he confessed.

He also confessed that he doesn’t perpetrate the theft alone but works with some members of his group just in case the victim becomes suspicious, they would quickly swing into action.

One of his victims who narrated his encounter with the suspect, said “I went to Ikeja Computer Village to see a friend of mine. After seeing him on my way to the bus park, I just saw someone hugged me from behind and later apologized to me when I told him I didn’t know him. Before I could look around again, I discovered my phone was gone already and the guy was nowhere to be found.”

“I went back to my friend's shop almost immediately to track my iPhone and the location I saw was that my phone was already in Lagos Island.” The victim added.

The suspect however appealed during the interrogation to be given a second chance to turn a new leaf swearing that he will never go back to the act.

Confirming the incident, the Police PPRO, ASP Olarinde Famous Cole, said that there would be no hiding place for criminals in Lagos State; adding that officers of the command are at alert to nip crime in the bud.

The suspect have been transferred to the SCID, Panti, for further investigations.