From Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
Operatives of Ogun state police command have arrested four suspected internet fraudsters, otherwise known as ‘Yahoo boys’, over the murder of a 20-year-old boy, Alexander Uzoma.
The suspects were arrested following a report lodged at the Adigbe Divisional Police Headquarters, Abeokuta, by the mother of the victim, one Ogechi Alexander.
Spokesperson of the police command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, in a statement, yesterday, said Ogechi had reported that Alexander left home on November 20, 2021, and did not return home.
She reported further that her son had informed her that he was going to visit some of his friends whom she didn’t know.
A case of missing person was subsequently lodged at the Adigbe Division, but when the whereabouts of the victim could not be known after some days, the Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole directed that the case be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for discreet investigation.
“At the SCIID, the DSP Nurudeen Abdul-Gafar-led Modus Operandi Section embarked on an intelligence and technical investigation which led to identification of one Babatunde Owoseni as the person who was last seen with the victim, and he was promptly arrested.
“The said Babatunde later led policemen to arrest his accomplices, namely, Azeez Oyebanji a.k.a Biggy; Ayobami Adesina and Balogun Sulaiman.
“On interrogation, they confessed that the victim came to their house to learn about internet fraud, and after eating food, they all took a substance known as Colorado which made them fall asleep. They confessed further that when they woke up at about 8pm, they met the victim on the ground vomiting all over his body and when they tried to lift him, they discovered that he was no longer breathing.
“At that point, Azeez Oyebanji, from whom they bought the drug, was invited, and he advised that they should throw the corpse away. It was then that Ayomide and Gafar arranged for an Uber driver to come. Ayomide then collected the vehicle from him and used it to carry the corpse to the top of Kuto overhead bridge where it was dumped. The corpse was later removed by the state health workers and buried as an unknown corpse.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that there was a mark of violence on the head of the deceased as shown in the picture taken by the health workers before it was buried.
Meanwhile, CP Lanre Bankole has ordered the investigating team to expedite action on the investigation and charge the case to court as soon as possible,” Oyeyemi stated in a statement.