Abeokuta Prison Inmate Runs Crime Ring Like Pablo Escobar in Southwest Nigeria

Matilda Omonaiye/

A jailed criminal in the mould of Pablo Escobar has been running an armed robbery gang in Southwest Nigeria from prison in Abeokuta.

The criminal was simply identified as Segun.

His cover was blown when the police in Lagos smashed a 3-man gang of suspected armed robbers, who are all ex-convicts.

The suspects identified as Ayomide Babatunde, 30; Tunde Shabi, 37, and Femi Adeolu, 27, were described as specialists in holding their victims hostage for days till all the money, in their accounts, have been transferred.

The gang leader, Babatunde, reportedly confessed to having successfully snatched not less than 20 cars between March and April 2019. On the incident that led to his arrest, he said that they were on patrol looking out for who to rob when they noticed a Lexus Jeep at Ilupeju Estate, in Lagos.

“When we finally got him, I took his phone and discovered that he has good money in one of the accounts. We forced him to transfer money to the account number of our godfather, Segun, who operates from inside the Abeokuta prison.

“First, he transferred N1million and we detained him till it was 12 am the next day and he transferred another N1million. Everyone in the area where I live assumes that I am an estate agent because I have an office in Alagbado.

“Any time that I am going for an operation, I will tell my wife that I am travelling to Cotonou to buy rice for my customers. To further confuse her, I will come home the next day with a bag of rice and keg of oil. If you were attacked by four boys with a pistol and lost your car around areas close to Sango-Ota between March and April, we were the ones. I am sorry. I always wanted to be a pastor.

“I did not save a dime because of my lifestyle; I slept in a hotel with women almost on a daily basis. I sold the Toyota Highlander SUV for N600k, Formatic Benz-N900k; Toyota Camry car, N300k; Toyota Camry (big daddy) car N500k; Lexus SUV 350; N600k; Toyota Muzzle N600k; Toyota Corolla N400k,“ he said.

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