Blood, it is said, is thicker than water. But in the case of 41-year-old Razaq Abiodun Komolafe, blood tie has no meaning if it will stand in his way and prevent him from achieving his criminal intent.
So, in February this year, he did not think twice before he sent two suspected armed robbers to the home of his late brother, Mr Jide Komolafe, so that they would rob his widow of the family’s valuables and also bring a particular car belonging to his brother, which he coveted so much, to him.
This was disclosed to Saturday Tribune on Thursday in Ibadan, when the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Odude, held a press briefing on Razaq’s arrest along with other members of his gang by his command. Other suspects arrested included Adeboye Adetunji (35), Ayeni Seun (30), Lawal Lukman (31), Mohammed Lawal (52), Baba Adamu (63), Abidoye Solomon (27) and Omote Pius.
The Oyo police commissioner said two members of the gang, Adetunji and Seun, invaded their victim’s house at Ajoda Estate in Egbeda Local Government Area on February 11 at 8:15p.m. and robbed her of her valuables. He added that the hoodlums also made away with the woman’s Toyota Camry car, with registration number KJA 697 BQ.
Odude said, following investigation by the Anti-Kidnapping Squad (AKS) of the command, three suspects were initially arrested, while their confessions led to the arest of other suspects, including those who bought the car and other items carted away by the armed robbery suspects.
He disclosed that investigation carried out by the AKS operatives took them to Kaduna and Niger states where two suspected receivers of the stolen vehicle were nabbed. He added that four other cars, suspected to have been stolen in similar circumstances, were also recovered.
Narrating her experience to Saturday Tribune, the victim, Mrs Komolafe, said:
“On February 11, two men came to my house after 8:00p.m. They came in through the kitchen door while my daughter was cooking and doing the laundry. They took advantage of the kitchen door that was open. They ordered the children and me to lie on the floor, face down. They demanded for the key of the family’s Toyota Camry (muscle) car, which I told them was in the room. I said they should allow me to go and bring it for them, but they rejected my offer, saying they would go and take it themselves.
“They went to the room, took the car key, searched everywhere and picked laptops, jewelleries, phones and other valuables. They asked for the security of the car and ordered me into the car. After some kilometres, when they were confident that they had mastered the car security, they asked me to get out of the car and drove away.
“On getting back home, I discovered that they locked my three children, aged between 12 and 19, in the smallest toilet in the house. That was when I started shouting. Most neighbours were initially afraid to come out, until one of them summoned courage and went to alert the police on patrol.
“The patrol team forcefully opened the main door and rescued my children from the toilet where they were almost unconscious. We made a statement at Alakia-Adelubi Police Station. From there, we were referred to the Anti-Kidnapping Squad. I was pleasantly surprised after some weeks when I was called that my family’s car had been recovered and the suspects apprehended. But one word I will use to describe my experience is ‘traumatic.’ I am yet to get over it.”
Adetunji, an Osogbo, Osun State indigene also said: “It was Razaq, the brother-in-law of our victim, who sent us to rob her. I was working in the same security outfit with Razaq. He was the one who came to tell me and Seun that he wanted to take one of his late elder brother’s vehicles, asking us to assist him in robbing his sister-in-law of the vehicle.
“Razaq spoke of his intention to sell the car and use the money to start a business, after he would have given us our share of the proceeds. We agreed to help him and he took us to the in-law’s house so that we would know the place ahead of the robbery operation.
“On the day we went to carry out the operation, we scaled a fence and entered through the kitchen door. We didn’t go with any gun; we only picked a pipe within the compound. But we didn’t need to use any weapon because the woman cooperated with us immediately we got into the house…
“We stopped over at Orogun junction along Ojoo-Iwo Road expressway and one Lukman who was invited by Razaq, drove the car to Ilorin, Kwara State. I knew an ex-soldier man, based in Ilorin. We met in Agodi Prison where I was kept when I could not fulfil the bail condition for a case I had in court and he was the one we took the car to. He was the one who told me to contact him if I have stolen vehicle to sell, saying he would be ready to buy such, anytime.
“The ex-soldier knew that we robbed someone of the car and he told me the buyer was in Minna, Niger State. I followed him to Minna where he negotiated with the buyer in Hausa Language. Since I didn’t understand the language, he told me the buyers offered N400,000 for the car. He gave me N300,000 which he said the buyer paid, saying that the N100,000 would be sent to me. Since then, he had been unreachable. I didn’t know his house; we met on the street the day we took the car to him.
“Razaq, Seun and I took N70,000 each while we gave Lukman N30,000. The rest was used as expenses incurred during our journey to Minna. It was when the car buyer was arrested that we learnt he paid N650,000 for the vehicle and gave the entire amount to the ex-soldier. That means he short-changed us.”
In Seun’s words, “all Adetunji said was true. I didn’t know Rasaq personally; it was Adetunji who told me that Razaq had misunderstanding with his late brother and that he needed some money, so we should help him rob his late brother’s wife of her car so that he could sell it and use the money for business.
“That was what we did until we were eventually arrested. The reason I agreed with Adetunji to carry out the robbery to help Razaq was that I also needed money. Before then, I had been talking to Adetunji to help me get a daytime job to augment my salary at the security outfit. This was because my house rent was due”.
Seun however denied taking the woman out of her compound, saying that she was taken back into her apartment and locked up with her children after she had shown them the security of the car. He added that he and Adetunji bought fuel into the car with the N2,000 they collected from the victim.
Why I sent people to rob my sister-in-law —Razaq
“I am a secondary school certificate holder. Ever since I have been working, I realised that I never had enough money. All the companies I worked with paid poor salaries. My late brother was the second born of my parents.
“Actually, I had several misunderstandings with my brother when he was alive, even when we were living in Abeokuta, Ogun State. The quarrels were based on his push that I should get educated. I became angry with him because I felt he was pestering my life and he reported me to our mother.
“Later, my brother advised me to learn a vocation, so I became an apprentice of a barber. When I concluded my training, I went to my brother to get money to establish my own barbing salon. He asked me for the estimate of what I needed and I told him it was N80,000.
“Again, he asked me how much I had been able to save from the job I was doing by the side, but I told him I didn’t have any savings. I reminded him that I was earning N10,000 from which I was taking care of my son, while I was also paying his school fees and buying foodstuff for the home.
“In anger, my brother asked me to leave, saying that he would only contribute half of the amount I needed, while I should raise N40,000 on my own.
“My mother tried to resolve the issue between us, but my brother said since I was not really serious, I should stop coming to his house. I should let you know that the house in which I live with my mother before my arrest was bought by my late brother and his wife. But he left it for us when he packed into a new house.
“I left for Lagos to work and later returned to Ibadan. Around that time, he fell ill and died in the hospital. Before he died, he bought a brand new Toyota Corolla. When he died, I started thinking of what I can get from his property to start a business. That was what prompted the plan I hatched with Adetunji.
“I had met Adetunji at another security company before we joined the last one we worked in. I told him all I needed from my brother’s property was the Toyota Corolla car. Even when they brought the Toyota Camry (muscle), I was wondering who owned it. He later agreed with me and I took him to my brother’s house to point it out to him.
“Few days after, they went to carry out the operation. On February 11, I received Adetunji’s call, telling me to meet him on Iwo Road-Ojoo Road. I called Lukman, who lives in my neighbourhood, to come with his driver’s licence and help me drive a car to Ilorin. I used N40,000 out of my share of N70,000 to start a little fish pond while I spent the rest on foodstuff and other needs.”
Lukman Lawal (31)
The suspect who drove the vehicle to Ilorin, Lukman told Saturday Tribune: “I was not working before my arrest. I was following a truck, though I am a graduate of Accounting from Ekiti State University. I was trapped into doing what I did (driving a vehicle stolen from its owner), based on trust.
“Razaq told me that his friend needed me to bring his tokunbo car to Ilorin because he was busy and could not come to Ibadan to drive it down. He said the person who drove it from Lagos to Ibadan was a security man and on night duty. Though there were number plates on the vehicle, I thought it was the way car dealers used to move their vehicles to beat Customs officials.”
One of the receivers, Mohammed, who was arrested in Minna, Niger State, told Saturday Tribune through an interpreter that he paid N650,000 for the vehicle and used N330,000 to put it in better shape for sale. He said he eventually gave it to Adamu to sell it for him in Kaduna and it was sold for N1.5 million.
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