Rasaq AbdulKareem/
A man identified as the leader of a gang that kidnapped and killed two Bureau de Change operators whose bodies were dumped in a septic tank after collecting N1.6million ransom has been shot to death by the police in Lagos.
Lagos State police spokesman, DSP Bala Elkana, indicated in a statement today that the police have now closed the page in a series of criminal activities involving the gang allegedly led by Mufutau Timileyin Sulaimon also known as Pencil, who was ‘erased’ by SARS officers today.
The story of Pencil’s gang started ending when detectives investigating the disappearance of two Bureau de Change operators, Alhaji Yakubu Musa and Alhaji Hassan Umaru on March 14, 2019, uncovered a septic tank with four bodies in Ikorodu area of Lagos, after which three suspected kidnappers were arrested and the gang leader declared wanted.
According to today’s statement from Elkana, the suspect, known as Pencil in the underworld, was killed at about 9 pm in Ikorodu on Sunday.
The statement reads in part: “They are serial killers, rapists and cultists. Three members of his gang were earlier arrested by SARS operatives and they led the operatives to their den at Ikorodu where corpses of the two Bureau de Change operators and two other victims were recovered. Sustained monitoring of the fugitive ring leader finally yielded positive results as the team eventually traced him to his hideout at Odogunyan, in Ikorodu. On sighting the team led by DSP Rotimi Ogunmuyiwa, the said Mufutau Timileyin Sulaimon ‘m’ popularly known as Pencil engaged the team in a gun battle.
“Two SARS operatives namely Sgt Omola Adedeji and Sgt Oluwadare Gbenga sustained various degrees of injuries, while Pencil sustained bullet wound on the two legs and they were all taken to hospital. While the said Pencil was confirmed dead on arrival, the two injured operatives were taken to intensive care Unit and are responding to treatment. One gun with live ammunition and expanded ammunition were recovered.”
Read the earlier story published by NewsmakersNG in March 2019: