Mr Ibrahim Ismaila, (25), an ex-convict, is one of the suspected criminals arrested for breaking into people’s homes to rob in Lagos State. Some years back, he was arrested for stealing phone at Agege area of Lagos State. He was charged to court and sentenced. After Ismaila left Kirikiri Prison, he returned to his vomit.
He
would later become a member of a deadly gang of robbers, specialising in
storming communities at night to raid different buildings. Asked if prison
didn’t change him after his incarceration, Ismaila said: “Prison does not
reform a criminal in Nigeria.
The
truth is that in prison, the everyday discussion is on crime and how to become
a stronger criminal. Everyone knows that the society respects rich thieves. In
prison, hard drugs are abused with reckless abandon. It is better to send
convicts to farms to work and feed the country, than sending them to prison.”
He,
however, added: “ I regret joining House-to-House Robbery Gang. If I regain my
freedom this time, I will not rob again
till I die.” The downfall of Ismaila and his partners started after the
Inspector- General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, received a series of
petitions on the alleged activities of the gang. Adamu directed his Special
Intelligence Response Team (IRT), headed by a Deputy Commissioner of Police
(DCP), Mr Abba Kyari, to track down the gang.
The
Lagos State arm of the investigation was led by a Chief Superintendent of
Police (CSP), Philip Riennewa. Within weeks, the coordinated teams swooped on
six members of the gang. The suspects are Mobolaji Jayiola (24), Sodiq Lawal
(25), Ajiwole Opeyemi (24), Akinwumi Rilwan (25) and Ibrahim Ismaila, (25).
According
to police, the suspects had receivers scattered all over Lagos State. While
fielding questions from investigators, the suspects disclosed that they have
over 20 receivers. The police, however, successfully arrested one of the
receivers, Aransi Ajibola.
A
police source said: “ House-to- House Robbery is very dangerous. The suspects
are usually armed with pistols and axes. They can use the weapons on a victim
if the person is not careful.”
One
of the gang’s victims, Mr. Joseph Nwanegbo, who escaped being killed after
being attacked with an axe, said that the suspects surprised him in his apartment
at Mulero Street, Agege. Nwanegbo, a South African returnee businessman, said
that the suspects stormed his home on April 27, 2018, at about 2am. Nwanegbo
recounted: ” I thank God that I’m alive today. They inflicted deep cuts on my
head with their axe. My family rushed me to hospital and I survived. It was
after I was discharged that I removed the head bandage.
The
suspects attacked my head with an axe. They were two. One came into the parlour
and pointed a gun at me. I kicked him and the gun fell down. We started
wrestling; I managed to throw and held him down. The second suspect came in
with an axe and hit my head.
This
made me to leave the one I was holding. They escaped. When one of my sons came
out from the inner room, he did not see the axe wound . It was when he asked me
to go inside and rest that he saw blood dripping down my face. He noticed the
axe wound and I was quickly rushed to hospital.”
Nwanegbo
said that the suspects successfully made away with his passport, air ticket, company
cheque books, laptop, two gold wristwatches and three android and Nokia phones.
Ajibola (24), a National Diploma Holder in Statistics and Mathematics, Moshood
Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, said that he started receiving stolen items
because of financial difficulty. The suspect explained that after his
graduation, he left school filled with great dreams and expectations.
His
words: “After my graduation, I was idle for many months and life was hard. My
life changed after I met Gbenga, a notorious receiver, who introduced me to
stolen goods receivers’ network. I specialised in receiving stolen motorcycles.
There are other receivers, who specialised in receiving stolen phones, jewelry,
laptops, and vehicles, Plasma TVs, among others. I received about 17 stolen
motorcycles before I was arrested.” Speaking on how the gang sells stolen
motorcycles, Ajibola said two face motorcycle goes for between N65,000 and
N70,000, while one face motorcycle sells for between N30,000 and N40,000.
He
added: “I believe that without receivers, robbers would find it difficult to
operate. They cannot be robbers and receivers at the same time. I believe that
some of the criminally minded and greedy receivers may be involved in
encouraging robbers to continue to rob, so that they will continue to have a
market. I regret taking part in this dirty business; believe me, I have not
made up to N250,000 since I started this receiver-work. As I receive, so I give
to those who buy from me.”
Another
suspect, Rilwan, a divorcee, said that he has a daughter. Rilwan, who
introduced himself as a painter, lives in Meiran area of the Lagos metropolis.
He said: “In order to find greener pastures in the underworld, I relocated to
Mushin area of Lagos in 2018 to steal phones at bus stops. If I get to steal
one or two phones per day, I was okay. I used to make like N20,000 per day. If
I don’t finish my money, I will not go out to steal phones. However, I started
Houseto- House Robbery last year.
The
gang was formed by Ire, Latin and I . We used one locally made pistol and axe
for operation. We don’t kill our victims even at the height of provocation. “We
only use gun to compel our victims to cooperate. If we use axe during
operation, it means we were only trying to defend ourselves. In our last
operation, we collected over 50 phones and 10 laptops.
There
were times we collected over 100 phones. We used a Ghana-Must- Go bag to carry
them. The challenge with our operation is that receivers used to cheat us by
stealing the phones, laptops and even hide some of our money. We have standby
buyers (receivers).
I
graduated into armed robbery after I met Latin, Segun and Ire in Mushin. They
were the ones who asked me to join the gang. There was a time I had my own
gang. I used to hire our operational guns for N5,000 each from Gani, who we met
at ghetto in Mushin, Lagos. We operated at night because it’s most convenient.
I’ve robbed more than 12 times before I was arrested by IRT operatives.”
NewTelegraph
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