A syndicate of three Nigeriens and two Nigerians who specialized in burgling boutiques and phone shops in Lagos and Oyo States were on Wednesday busted by the officers of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Lagos Police Command.
Members of the gang had in the last one years broken into phone store and clothes market in Lagos and Oyo States ,carting away goods ,running into over a hundred million naira .
The Nigeriens: Yakubu (37), Isa Saidu (21), Mustapha (32) and the Nigerians; Tairu Melaye (25) and Lucky Chukwudi (43) as well as their receiver, one Ibrahim Adamu were arrested in their hide outs in Ijora and Boundary, Ajegunle, Lagos.
One of the victims of the gang based in Oyo State sought the technical assistance of Rapid Response Squad through the Lagos Police Command for the arrest of Ibrahim Adamu, who he believed was in Lagos.
The arrest of Adamu, who bought stolen items from the gang opened up the roles of other members of the group in the burgling and looting of boutiques and mobile phone stores both in Lagos and Oyo State.
According to sources, the gang broke into: lace shops in Idumota and made away with 11 bundles of lace materials; a mobile phone shop in Ajah, Lagos and carted away 44 mobile phones; and, another phone shop in Ibadan, where they stole 24 mobile phones.
The gang’s last joint operation was on 8th February, 2020 at Balogun Market, Lagos Island, where the made away with 10 bundles lace material and several female slippers.
It was further revealed that two of the gang members, Isa Saidu and Tairu Mulaye are ex – convicts.
According to Saidu, he was imprisoned in Ikoyi for 16 months for leading his gang to break into his master’s textile shop in Balogun Market, Lagos Island and was released in July 2019.
In his confessions to the police, Mulaye disclosed that he was invited to join the gang by one Umar after his release from Kirikiri Prison.
“Immediately, I was taken to a hotel in Boundary, Ajegunle, where I was introduced to Biggy (Lucky Chukwudi), Mustapha and Yakubu.
That very night, we broke into a mobile phone mart in Ajah. I was rewarded with 11 mobile phones. I took all the phones to my village in Kebbi”.
He added, “I followed them to another operation in Ibadan. We broke into another phone store. We were five and I was given six mobile phones.
On 8th February, 2020, we were in a lace shop in Idunmota, Lagos. I was given three bundles of lace and some children’s cloth.
It is Yakubu that usually break into shops. He used one long iron to break into shops. For our operations, we used different coloured vehicle, which were provided by Biggy.
Since arriving from prison, we have been sleeping in different hotels and paying N5000 daily”.
Yakubu, the leader of the gang had travelled to Niger Republic as at the time of the arrest of his colleagues while one Mustapha, another member of the gang was on the run.
Exhibits recovered from the hotel rooms of the suspects in Boundary, Ajegunle, were: 105 pairs of shoes; seven different fabrics; three children cloth and three lady’s bags.
The suspects have been transferred to the SARS in Ikeja for prosecution.
The state commissioner of police Hakeem Odumosu ,while speaking on the arrest of the suspects , assured that other members of the gang would be arrested.
