21st August, 2021
By Adejoke Adeleye, Abeokuta
The Ogun State Police Command has arrested four members of a syndicate who specialised in robbing and killing Point Of Sale (POS) and Uber operators.
Spokesperson of the command, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi in a statement said the suspects, Kehinde Saliu Jelili aka Oluomo; Abiodun Akinola, Johnson Fakeye and Jamiu Akinola were all arrested following a complaint lodged at Onipanu divisional headquarters on the 18th of April, 2021.
The complaint was made by one Aanu Salaudeen.
She said she was a POS attendant to one Abiodun Odebunmi and that her boss left his office at Aparadija the previous day, to meet a customer with N4 million to be used for POS transaction.
She stated further that the said Odebunmi has not been seen since then, and that all calls made to his line had not gone through.
According to her, they had earlier carried out 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 N4 million.
“Upon the report, the policemen at Onipanu commenced investigation into the sudden disappearance of the man.
Their efforts paid off when the 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 briefly transferred to homicide section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department on the order of the Commissioner of Police, Edward Awolowo Ajogun.
Ajogun 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 technical and intelligence based investigation, which led them to Otun Ekiti in Ekiti State where the suspect was discovered to be hibernating,” Oyeyemi explained.
“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 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 would be returning to Nigeria, the team laid ambush for him and got him arrested at the boundary between Ogun and Lagos State.
“On interrogation, Jelili, who claimed to be a native of Apomu in Osun State confessed killing the victim,” Oyeyemi stated.
According to Oyeyemi, the suspect confessed 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 a N1.5 million business with him the previous day.
He said they macheted him to death after collecting the money from him.
“He stated further that they burnt the victim’s body to cover their tracks, adding that their targeted victims were always Uber and POS operators.
“According to him, one of them would pretend as passenger to the Uber driver, and would lure such driver to where his members were waiting, and that as soon as he got to the place, the driver would be hacked to death with the car stolen and sold.
“Also, the suspect stated that he and his gang attacked another victim, 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 every proceed 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,” he said.
Oyeyemi said Toyota Camry, Toyota Corolla and Toyota Rave 4, whose owners had been gruesomely murdered, were recovered from the gang.