Two men have been arrested by the police for allegedly robbing two women of their belongings.
Abayomi Adelabi, a 42-year old contractor, and Solomon Sunday, a 42-year old carpenter, were arrested in the Ota Tollgate area of Ogun State after they had carried out the robbery in the Iyana-Ipaja area of Lagos.
While the duo was arrested, six members of the eight-man gang were said to have escaped.
It was gathered that one of the members pretended as a bus driver, while the rest posed as a conductor and passengers respectively.
Some unsuspecting commuters were said to have joined the bus.
The gang members allegedly collected phones, ATM cards and their PINs, wedding ring and cash from the victims after which they sprayed pepper on their faces before pushing them off the moving bus.
They were reportedly chased by officials of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad and caught in the Ota area.
Adelabu said he started using a commercial bus for robbery in 2016, adding that he became the leader of the robbery gang when the person who taught him the trade died in 2017.
The father of four said, “We usually rob from Iyana-Ipaja to Oyingbo. I have robbed with my gang more than 100 times. We bought one Siena before our gang leader died. It was the money realised from the robbery that we used to buy the Siena and one Volkswagen bus.”
Sunday said he joined the gang in 2017 when the money he was making from furniture trade, which he learnt from his father, was not enough.
The suspects were arraigned before Ogba Magistrates’ Court on three counts bordering on conspiracy and robbery.
The police prosecutor of Court 12, Michael Unah, told the court that the offence contravened sections 299 and 297 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The charges read, “That you, Abayomi Adelabi, Solomon Sunday and others now at large, on June 18, 2018, at about 5.30am, at Estate Gate, Ipaja, Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did conspire among yourself to commit felony to wit: robbery.
“That you, Abayomi Adelabi, Solomon Sunday and others now at large, on the same date, time and place, in the aforementioned magisterial district, did steal Itel phone valued at N14,000, wedding ring valued at N15,000, power bank valued at N3,500, and cash of N2,000, property of Mrs Aina Rita.
“That you, Abayomi Adelabi, Solomon Sunday and others now at large, on the same date at about 5.50am at Ipaja Estate gate, Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did steal Infinix phone valued at N45,000, wedding ring valued at N55,000, necklace valued at N7,000, cash of N312,000; total value N412,000 property of Mrs Atobatele Florence.”
The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The presiding magistrate, A.A. Fashola, granted the defendants bail in the sum of N100,000 each with two surety each in like sum.
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