Matilda Omonaiye/
Four members of a gang of suspected armed robbers allegedly killing POS and UBER operators have been arrested by the police in Ogun State.
Identified as Kehinde Saliu Jelili aka Oluomo, Abiodun Akinola, Johnson Fakeye, and Jamiu Akinola, the suspects were arrested following a report lodged at Onipanu Divisional Headquarters on April 18, 2021, by one Aanu Salaudeen who reported that she is a POS attendant to one Abiodun Odebunmi a POS operator, Ogun State police spokesman, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi told NewsmakersNG.
According to Oyeyemi, Aanu told the police that her boss left his office at Aparadija the previous day, to meet a customer with a cash sum of N4 million to be used for a POS transaction. She added that the said Abiodun Odebunmi had not been seen since then, and all calls made to his line did not go through.
According to her, they had earlier done a transaction of N1.5 million with the person who invited his boss the previous day, and that it was the same person who called his boss to meet him at Ojuore to do another POS transaction of N4million.
Oyeyemi stated: “Upon the report, the policemen at Onipanu commenced investigation into the sudden disappearance of the man, their efforts paid off when the dead and burnt body of the victim was discovered in an uncompleted building at Arobieye area of Ota without the trace of his assailants.
“The case was transferred to the homicide section of the State Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department on the order of the Commissioner of Police (CP) Edward Awolowo Ajogun, who mandated the homicide team to unravel the perpetrators of the dastardly act within the shortest possible period.
“The CSP Femi Olabode-led homicide team, in compliance with the CP’s directive, embarked on a technical and intelligence-based investigation, which led them to Otun-Ekiti in Ekiti State, where the suspect was found to be hibernating. On getting to Ekiti, the suspect got wind of the presence of the detectives and quickly escaped to Offa in Kwara State. With determination to apprehend him, the team continued trailing him and they later got information that he was in the Benin Republic, where he had gone to attend the court session of Chief Sunday Adeyemo aka Sunday Igboho, and that he would soon be coming to Nigeria.
“Having gotten the information about the day he will be returning to Nigeria, the team laid ambush for him and got him arrested at the boundary between Ogun and Lagos State.
“On interrogation, Kehinde Salihu Jeili, who claimed to be a native of Apomu in Osun State confessed that he killed the victim. He confessed further that he deliberately lured the victim to Ota where he and his gang members were waiting for him with the money he was asked to bring, having transacted N1.5 million business with him the previous day, and that they macheted him to death after collecting the money from him.
“He stated further that they burnt the victim’s body in order to cover their tracks.
“He also confessed that their targeted victims are always Uber and POS Operators. According to him, one of them will pretend as a passenger to the Uber driver and will lure such driver to where his members were waiting, and as soon as he gets to the place, the driver will be hacked to death and the car will be taken away to their receiver.
“The suspect stated further that he and his gang attacked another victim of their criminal act one Idowu Ademiluyi at Itori area and snatched his Toyota Corolla car, having macheted him to the point of death.
“The arrest of Kehinde Salihu led the detectives to their receiver, Abiodun Akinola who is a standby buyer of proceeds of their crime.
“The confessional statements of the duo led to the arrest of the other two suspects, Johnson Fakeye and Akinola Jamiu at Atan Ota and Owode Yewa respectively.
“One Toyota Camry, one Toyota Corolla, and one Toyota Rav 4, whose owners had been gruesomely murdered were recovered from the gang.
“Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, CP Edward Awolowo Ajogun, who was full of praises for the team for the painstaking investigation which lasted for almost three months, directed that it is not over until the last member of the devilish gang is arrested. He, therefore, appealed to members of the public to always disclose their movement to at least one trusted person, whenever they have cause to keep an appointment with an unknown person.
“The CP also directed that the suspects be charged to court as soon as investigation is concluded.”
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