Christopher Oji
Two notorious bank robbers, who have been terrorising banks in the South West, especially Lagos, have been arrested by the police.
Adetunji and Bashirat, alias Area Mama, who have been on the wanted list of the police for a long period of time, were arrested by operatives of the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT).
It was gathered that Adetunji, who is also an alleged member of the Eiye Confraternity, ran into trouble recently when he led some members of his gang to attack a salesgirl on her way to the bank in Opebi, Ikeja, and dispossessed her of her money and cell phone.
Adetunji was arrested a few days later, when the woman, whose identity was not disclosed,sighted
him on Toyin Street, Ikeja, while he was planning to rob an unsuspecting passerby.
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She raised the alarm, which alerted operatives of the IRT and they raced to the scene and apprehended Adetunji.
He was said to have confessed during interrogation at the IRT that members of his gang normally carried out their operation such as armed robbery and cult-related killings within Lagos State.
He added that their guns were normally kept in the Isolo area of the state.
Police sources disclosed that, to recover Adetunji’s operational rifle and pistol, he led them to a market in Jakande Low-Cost Housing Estate in Isolo, where Bashirat was arrested and she told the operatives during interrogation that the guns were no longer in her possession as she had given them to another senior member of the gang known as Junior, aka Jungle.
The source added that when Area Mama was asked to take the operatives to Jungle’s house so they could arrest him and recover the guns, she misled them and took them to a wrong location where she also attempted to escape. She was said to have run into a ditch in the process and she sustained serious injuries, which made the operatives to stop their search for Jungle and she was taken to the hospital.
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When interviewed, Adetunji confessed being a member of the gang and explained that they normally paid Area Mama N5,000 whenever she gave the guns to them:
“I am a member of the Eiye and I joined while I was at the university in Ogun State but when I dropped out, I came back home to join members of my cult group in Jakande Estate and I discovered that they had already procured an AK-47 rifle and a revolver pistol.
“They told me that they bought the guns from a soldier and they usually kept the guns at the shop
of Area Mama, also a member of our cult group. She normally hides the gun at her shop where she sells pepper and tomatoes.”