Operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad,
SARS, in Lagos State, have arrested a gang of
car snatchers suspected of terrorizing Ikeja
and other parts of the state for a long time.
The suspects, Sadiq Olayibi, Tolani Adeyinka,
Adeleke Teslim and Olayemi Akiloye, met their
waterloo when SARS operatives swooped on
them at various parts of the state. Olabiyi
described himself as a kid robber who
graduated to a full blown car snatcher. Also
arrested was a 50-year-old woman, Lawal Ireti,
who was described as the gang’s informant.
Police sources said Ireti provided other jobs
for the gang when they were not snatching
cars. According to the sources, the woman
suspect provided information to the gang that
led to the robbery of the N8 million from a
micro finance bank in Ogba area of Ikeja.
*Suspects…’We stole N8m from Micro-Finance
Bank’
“The gang specialized in car snatching and they
terrorized Ikeja and environs for a lng time.
They operated during the weekends and their
targets were exotic cars. Their activities gave
the police, residents and night crawlers in
Ikeja sleepless nights and the state
Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, in his
bid to stem the gang’s operation, ordered the
officer in charge of SARS, SP, Abba Kyari, to
trail and apprehend the bandits.
Kyari, who swiftly swung into action, sent
undercover operatives into streets to shop for
stolen vehicles. Their efforts paid off when
they stumbled on oen of the gang members
who attempted to sell a stolen Toyota Camry
to the undercover operatives. He was arrested
and his arrest pave the way for the arrest of
other members of the gang including Ireti the
50-year-old woman”, one of the sources told
Sunday Vanguard.
The source added that members of the gang
got wind of the arrest of their member and
they made effort to flee the country. “We
arrested Tolani Adeyinka, at the South Africa
Embassy, after he had secured a visa to flee
the country. Sadiq Olabiyi was picked up at
Ajah area of the state, he has also applied for
a visa to tavel to Egypt. Adeleke Teslim and
Olayemi Akiloye were picked separately at Ojo
and Okokomaiko areas of the state,” the source
narrated.
Meanwhile, when Sunday Vanguard interviewed
the suspects at Lagos State Command
Headquarters, Ikeja, they confessed to the
crime, but Olabiyi blamed his involvement in
crime to lack of prper training. The 27 year-
old man said, “I am the first child of my
parents. My father did not have a good job,
which made us very poor. I was born in Ketu.
As a young boy, I used to go to the market at
Mile 12 to assist some people selling stolen
goats. I usually helped them to offload the
goats from their vehicles and, from there, I
learnt how to drive.
When I graduated from secondary school, I
joined the business full time. I stole several
goats, I would travel to some south western
states to steal goats. While I was doing that, I
met Tolani Adeyinka. He and Adeleke Teslim
and one other had started snatching cars then.
They knew I was a good driver; so they asked
me to join them. We stole a lot of cars
together and we operated mostly in Ikeja,
Ogba and Agege areas.
We usually struck weekends when fun seekers
were on the streets grooving and our targets
were mostly Toyota, Honda and Mercedes Benz
cars. We had ready buyers all over the state
and we would deliver a stolen car to any of the
buyers who make the highest bid. We sold
Toyota cars for N250,000 and Honda Accord
from N300,000. I got between N100,000 and
N150,000 after each operation, I spent my
money on myself, I bought good clothes,
rented an apartment at Ajah and bought a land
at Ikorodu, where I am building a three-
bedroom flat apartment.
But sometime in July, Ireti brought us a job
where we stolen the sum of N8 million from a
micro fiance bank. I don’t know the name of
the bank but she and a male partner brought
the job to us. I thought they were police
informants trying to set me up and I ignored
their calls from close to two weeks. When I
finally met them at a bar in Ikotun they told
me that they got my phone number from one
of my friends who told them I could do the
job.
The job was at Ikeja and they asked us to wait
soemwhere for the car conveying the money
to pass. Ireti was there to point the car for us.
After she did, we followed the car alongn
Ogba and double crossed it. I was the one
driving. Tolani Adeyinka and Adeleke Teslim
bolted out with their guns and they snatched
the bag containing the money and all the
occupants’ mobile phones before we zoomed
off. We shared the money equally, four million
naira went to Ireti and her partner and my
gang shared the rest. I got one million naira as
my own share.”
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