Christopher Oji
Police have warned that armed robbers now use commercial tricycles (Keke Marwa) to rob passengers in Lagos.
This was revealed after a popular television presenter (name withheld) was attacked in a keke she boarded.
Already, one of the suspected robbers who attacked the presenter has been nabbed by operatives of Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Lagos State Police Command.
The suspect, Adebayo, 23, in company with three others now on the run, had on July 12, while pretending to be passengers in ‘keke’, used knives and cutlass to dispossess the presenter of her belongings.
In his confession to the police, Adebayo stated that his gang members: Olabanji, Ahmed and Lekan, threatened the presenter with knives and other dangerous weapons.
He said: “The operation was my fifth robbery with the gang. I joined them this July and for each of the operation, they gave me N8,000:00 only. No matter how much we made, that was what they gave me, maybe, because I just joined the gang. They don’t treat me as one of them. I was asked to join the gang by one of them after one of their gang members pulled out.
“They have been operating for a long time before I joined them. I was a bus conductor; I had no job. They promised to assist me and that was when they invited me to join the gang. We rob between Coca Cola and Ogba and Ikeja to Ogba. We use two knives and a short cutlass. I collect phones and belongings of our victims,” he explained.
According to the television presenter, who did not want her name in print, “around 10 p.m. I was standing at Coca Cola Bus Stop, Ikeja, when their ‘keke’ arrived. I boarded it hoping to drop off at Ogba. They were all men, I didn’t suspect anything, because there were other ‘keke’ there. I noticed that as soon as the rider linked Wempco Road, the two passengers at the back and the one sitting in the front brought out knives and cutlass and threatened to kill me if I did not co-operate with them.
“They collected my two phones, my handbag, jewellery and some money, I can’t even recollect how much it was. They then pushed me out of the ‘keke’ while on speed.
“I was struggling to get up to avoid oncoming vehicles from hitting me, a bike man assisted me and we were on their tail. We caught up with them on Akilo Road, and unfortunately for us, they used their ‘keke’ to hit us.”
This was at the point RRS patrol team saw us and chased the robbers. They abandoned their ‘keke’ and fled in different directions, but they got that one (pointing to the suspect),” she added.
Recovered from the robbers were a tricycle and a dagger.
The Commissioner of Police, CP Adamu Muazu, has ordered the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Panti, Yaba to take over the matter and immediately arrest other members of gang.