The police in Lagos are on the trail of one Michael and his girlfriend for their alleged involvement in a robbery along the Lekki-Epe Expressway.
The duo were said to be members of a gang that specialised in snatching cabs by disguising as passengers.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the girlfriend had hailed a cab along the expressway on Friday, January 19, around 4.30am on the pretext of boarding it to Lekki.
She was negotiating the fare with the driver when Michael and one Agboye Avokeri, approached the driver and asked him to also take them to Lekki.
The driver was said to have picked the three of them.
As the journey progressed, Michael reportedly brought out a gun and forced the cab driver to stop.
They subsequently fled with the cab while the driver reported the incident at the Maroko Police Division.
A police team was said to have trailed the suspects and arrested four members of the gang, including Avokeri, while the car was recovered.
The arrested suspects were identified as Collins Okoro, 27; John Ukpe, 26; Tijani Ibrahim, 31 and 34-year-old Sodiq Oyenuga.
They were paraded on Tuesday at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters in Ikeja.
Avokeri, 25, told PUNCH Metro that Michael recently approached him, saying that a car he used for Uber transport had worn out and he needed a replacement.
He said they snatched the cab so that Michael could get back to the transport business, adding that he (Michael)promised to be giving him some percentage of the money realised from the business.
He said, “I was studying International Relations at a university in Delta State. In 2014, when I was in 300-level, my parents could no longer sponsor my education so I dropped out and travelled to Lagos.
“All my life, it (robbery) is not what I intend to involve in. It was a friend (Michael) who I knew while I was working as a security guard that said he needed a car. He said the one he was using for Uber was old.
“We went out together with his girlfriend. The girl stopped a cab around Lekki and we entered. On getting to a particular point, where there was no passerby, we snatched the car from the driver and fled.”
Also paraded were some suspected robbers who operated along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway and dispossessed passengers of their valuables at gunpoint.
The suspects, led by one Uche, had on January 18, at 1am reportedly attacked occupants of a vehicle in the Alaba area.
During the operation, a police corporal, Hassan Aminu, attached to the PMF 20 Squadron, Ikeja, saw the gang from his duty post at China Civil Engineering Construction Company, Odunade area of Alaba and raced to the scene.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the robbers, on sighting him moving closer to the scene, fled on unregistered motorcycles, while the policeman pursued them.
He reportedly trailed them to the Alakija junction, Satelite Town, and engaged them in a gun duel, killing two suspects in the process.
One of the gang members apprehended by the cop, Yusuf Akanbi, confessed to the robbery, saying that it was his first operation.
He said, “I am an okada rider. I was arrested at Alakija. We robbed a woman and collected her bag.”
The state Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, who anchored the parade, presented a certificate of commendation to the corporal, adding that one locally-made pistol, a Nokia phone and a bag containing valuables belonging to the victims, were recovered from the gang.
The CP added that the items had been handed over to their owners.
“Also, on January 19, at about 12am, a team of anti-cultism policemen on a tip-off stormed an uncompleted building in Ikorodu, where a group of boys suspected to be cult members were performing initiation rites. The boys fled, but two of them, Sesan Onatola, 27, and Kehinde Olusola, 26, were arrested. Three pump-action rifles, four live cartridges, one cutlass and one iron rod, were recovered from them,” he added.
Imohimi called on members of the public to continue to partner the police to keep Lagos safe.
He said, “It is important that we go back to the basics when we police our communities by having an idea of what our neighbours do for a living.
“We are on the trail of a group that is pasting subversive posters on public parks across the state to cause fear. We must be vigilant and expose this group.”
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