21st August, 2016
A Legion officer who specialized in robbing okada riders have been arrested in Agege area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS).
The suspect, Umam Hrmid, 48, from Borno State, a 2LT of Nigerian Legion, Lagos State Command was caught impersonating official of the Lagos State Taskforce to rob okada riders.
He was arrested on Friday evening at about 10:30 p.m. by RRS operatives in Agege after dispossessing one Amin Al–Hassan of his motorcycle.
The suspect, who was working with his accomplice, Tijani Bashir, now at large, had accosted his victim, Al–Hassan, at Total Filling Station, Agege and told him that he was a policeman attached to the Lagos State Taskforce.
He told his victim that he was impounding his motorcycle for plying restricted area and for operating at prohibited hour.
Bewildered, Al–Hassan began to plead for negotiation but Hrmid told him to bring N20, 000 but the victim could only produce N5,000 which the suspect rejected.
“When he refused to accept the N5,000, he mounted the bike and rode it towards Iyana Ipaja. I begged him but he told me to get down from the bike because I sat behind him while his partner rode the bike they brought”, Al–Hassan explained.
He continued: “He rode through Agbotikuyo, Agege. At Mulero, I forced the bike to a stop by removing its key from the ignition, and I got down. We were arguing when two passers-by joined us and they requested for his identity card when he told them that he was a policeman with the Lagos State Taskforce.
“Reluctantly, he flashed his identity card before them but one of them was so swift to snatch it from him. Then, he began to chase the guy, who quickly ran towards RRS patrol team nearby who arrested him and collected the dagger he was holding.”
At the RRS’s headquarters, three other victims from whom Hrmid had collected bikes weeks before he was caught on Wednesday, came with particulars of their bikes, alleging that Hrmid, along with an accomplice, whom they described took their bikes.
The victims, Shuaib Abdullahi, Umaru Hassan and Salisu Umaru, stated that the suspect collected their motor cycles in a spate of three weeks, and that one his victims was shot at a close range in the cheek at Shoretire Street, Agege.
One of the victims, Abdullahi explained that the suspect at around 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday last week, took his bike, FKJ 259 QA, Boxer model, from him, under the pretext that he was taking him to Taskforce office.
“He drove me to Ile–Zik before threatening me to get down or he would kill me at the deserted place. I requested for his number and he gave me a fake number. I called the number immediately he left but the number didn’t go.
“I learnt he was arrested yesterday, that was why we came to RRS to collect our okada from him,” he said.
The suspect, however, failed to deny the allegations of the three other victims when they confronted him.
Speaking on the development, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Dolapo Badmos confirmed the arrest of the suspect, stressing that his arrest might help shed more light on reported cases of motorcycles theft in Agege and its environs.
The suspect has been transferred to Special Anti-Robbery Squad(SARS) for further investigations.