Vigilante Group Track Down Oyingbo Robbery Suspect

The police in Lagos have arrested a suspected robber, Saliu
John, on the Old Apapa Road, Oyingbo, after allegedly dispossessing some market
women of about N28,000.

Punch correspondent gathered that John, who was said to have
come to the area with two others, was nabbed by members of a vigilance group
after he reportedly missed his way after the operation.

It was learnt that John and other accomplices had suddenly
become separated, forcing the suspect to hide behind a tanker parked on the
road. It was learnt that some local security men later sighted him there.

Punch Metro learnt that John, who was arrested at about 9pm
on Monday, was questioned by the security men and he told them that he had come
to do business in the area from Ijora, after which he missed his way.

When the suspect was, however, searched, the vigilance group
members were said to have found different purses containing money, arousing the
suspicion of the security men that John allegedly attacked some market women.

The suspect was said to have been taken to the Iponri Police
Division on Tuesday.

A member of the vigilance service executive, identified only
as Musibau, told Punch Metro that John’s three-man gang usually came from the
Ijora area to rob on Jones, Atitebi and neighbouring streets on the Old Apapa
Road.

Musibau added that when John could not account for the cash
found on him, the security men knew he was a robber.

He said, “It was at about 8.30pm on Monday. The robber was
hiding behind a tanker parked by the roadside. It was a security man at a hotel
nearby who noticed the stranded robber and alerted the vigilance group.

“When we searched him, we found purses containing sums of
N1,500, N3,000, N2,500 among others, which added up to around N28,000. He could
not give account of where he got the purses. He initially lied that he was
coming from the Ijora area to do business and he had missed his way.

“Later, he confessed to robbery, and we held him until the
morning when policemen from Iponri came to take him away. The hoodlums have a
culture of robbing women who are returning from markets in the evening. They
would attack them with broken bottles and clubs and collect their day’s sales.

“We learnt that the suspect came with two others who had
escaped, but he got separated from them and was left behind. We did not find
any weapon on John. But he came from the Ijora Badia, Apapa area.”

A resident, identified only as Kareem, said the gang also
stole the batteries of two cars parked on Atitebi Street.

Punch learnt that the vigilance group and the police were
making efforts to track the two other suspected robbers.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Joe
Offor, promised to get back on the incident. He, however, had yet to do so as
of press time.