by ‘Jola Sotubo

A man in Oyo has been arrested after reports that he led a gang of armed robbers to his sister’s home.

38-year-old Yemi Adeleke was said to be at the head of the operation during which he led 3 armed hoodlums to steal a car and other belongings from his sister’s residence in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara.

Adeleke revealed that he had chosen to rob his sister of a Mercedes Benz V-Boot and her other prized possessions because she had refused to give him the car, which she bought for their father before his demise.

He said:

My sister bought a Mercedes Benz V-Boot for our father but refused to hand it over to me when he died. I pleaded with her to buy a motorcycle for me; she did not heed my plea. I also asked her to buy a car that I would be using for commercial purpose for me so that I could stop the job of a security guard I was doing but, again, she did not respond to me.

“To my surprise she gave a vehicle to someone living within our compound, and who is not related with us in any way. That was why I sent some boys after her to get the Mercedes car for me.”

The Tribune reports:

Speaking with journalists during a press briefing at the headquarters of Oyo State Police Command in Ibadan on Wednesday, April 30, the Commissioner of Police, Mr Mohammed Indabawa, said that his command received a distress call from the Officer-in-Charge of Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Kwara State at about 11p.m. on April 27 that a gang of four armed robbers, armed with dangerous weapons, had robbed someone in the state. In addition to the robbery, Indabawa said the command was told that the victim’s night guard was shot and injured.

“The information revealed further that the victim’s Toyota Highlander vehicle with registration number KJA 246 AX, laptops, handsets and an unspecified amount of money were taken away by the armed robbers, and that they were heading towards Oyo State,” the police commissioner added.

Officers and men of the command were reportedly put on alert because of this. It was learnt that the officer in charge of SARS, Oyo/Ogbomoso axis, Olusola Aremu, a Superintendent of Police, led two patrol teams to mount surveillance along Oyo-Ogbomoso road and within Oyo town. Their efforts were said to have paid off when they sighted the armed robbers. In an ensuing gun battle, the armed robbers fled into the bush with bullet wounds.

However, the SARS operatives succeeded in arresting Adeleke from where he was hiding in the bush, with bullet wounds on his two legs.

Further in his confession, Adeleke admitted that: “I followed my gang members for the operation but did not enter my sister’s apartment with them. I stayed outside.

“When they returned to me, they brought the key of my sister’s Toyota Highlander Sport Utility Vehicle, saying that my sister told them the Benz was not working. They also came with some of her personal belongings such as laptop, phones, dollars, some documents and a box. My mother’s phone was also among. I collected those things from them so that they would not take them away.

“I also informed my gang members that the Highlander had a tracker installed in it when it was bought and would not be easy to take away. I made up my mind to go and park it in our compound at Fiditi, via Oyo. Unfortunately, the vehicle did not get there before it stopped so I removed all the things inside.

“In the process, SARS operatives came and started shooting, so I ran away. I returned to the hotel to take my bead and purse that I forgot but the staff started beating me. As the okada man who took me there saw this, he wanted to escape but I held on to his bike and he dragged me along until I escaped from the hotel.

“I put a call through to a girl I intended having for the night in the hotel so that she could help me get the manager’s number. The bead was not ordinary and it belonged to my father who was the Jagun of Fiditi.

“As the lady was trying to help me call the manager, SARS operatives came again. I dropped all the things I was carrying and started running away. I never knew that my sister would have informed the police. My attempt to escape was aborted when they shot me in the leg.

“I didn’t know that my gang members macheted the guards in my sister’s community. I intended using the Benz car for commercial purpose. “I met the guys at a beer joint. I don’t know their names. They were three in number. They used to ask me to buy beer for them which I would do.

One day, I overheard one of them saying that he wanted to smoke marijuana. I then thought that they would be useful for what I wanted to do, so I spoke to them about helping me to steal the Benz car from my sister.

“I knew they took cutlass for the operation but my sister said they came with a gun. They did not collect any money from me for the job. They told me they were going to Lagos and I gave them N2,000 each.”

The Commissioner of Police said that the suspect’s case would be transferred back to Kwara State where the crime was committed.