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| The Armed Robbers |
You all remember the robbers that raided the international airport? They have been caught.
Wonders they say will never end o. Imagine these robbers saying my share was "only". Imagine calling N45.5m only. May God help us. And why are they helping them hide their faces? They are thieves and they should be declared to the world.
My share was only N45.5m – Airport robberies suspect
Lagos
State Police Command has arrested members of a gang that allegedly
robbed Murtala Muhammed International Airport on March 13, 2013.
The police on Tuesday said the gang was also behind another operation at the same airport in 2012.
One
of the suspects, Atoba Adeniyi, who confessed to being part of the two
operations, however, said his share was only N45.5m –N45m in the first
and N500,000 in the second.
Adeniyi spoke while being paraded
alongside six others involved in the robberies at the headquarters of
the state command in Ikeja.
The suspects had stormed the airport
on March 13 and carted away millions of naira and foreign currencies
after killing two police inspectors.
It was learnt that the
robbers, Ibikunle John, Atoba Adeniyi, Ibrahim Abdullahi, Kazeem
Aderibigbe, Saheed Adekunle, Christian Joshua and Saheed Okunola, stole
over $2.5m (N400m) in the 2012 robbery.
Adeniyi, who claimed he
only drove those that carried out the recent robbery at the Airport,
explained that he had a transport company and other businesses.
He
said, “I was involved in the airport robbery in 2012. I am not
naturally an armed robber. I used to be a truck driver in Bayelsa State
and they (the other robbers) told me they needed my services. It was
later I discovered that they wanted to stage a robbery. After the
robbery, I was paid N45m.
“I went back to Ibadan in Oyo State,
where I built a duplex and started a transport company. I cut all ties
with the robbers and even changed my telephone line but they found me
and told me that I must come for one last operation. After the second
operation that two policemen were killed, I was given N500, 000 because
things did not go as planned.”
John, who claimed to be a pastor,
said he only prayed for the suspects and gave them spiritual items to
aid them in their operations.
He said he only met the suspects in
February and had tried to dissociate himself from them but they
threatened to kill him if he did not play along.
The suspect
said, “I met them through a friend, Paul, who brought them for prayers
at my church, the Way of Joy in Egbe, Lagos. Later, they confessed that
they were robbers and threatened to kill me if I exposed them. I made
them to swear an oath of secrecy and also gave them some spiritual
backing.
“I never followed them to any robbery because I still have a congregation that needs me.”
Abdullahi, who is a labourer at the airport, said he was not an active member of the gang but only an informant.
Abdullahi, an indigene of Plateau State, said he usually helped people to carry luggage at the airport.
He
said, “I never followed them to any operation. I only told them how
they could steal money from some people at the airport that carry large
amounts of cash. After the robbery in 2012, they paid me N1.5m for my
cooperation.
“I collected it because the amount of money I was
making from pushing around trolleys was too little. Imagine, I was
earning between N700 and N1000 per day. It was just too little.”
The
Commissioner of Police for the state police command, Umar Manko, said
the suspects had been linked to a series of robberies in the South-West.
Manko said three vehicles and some rounds of ammunition were recovered from them.
He
said, “During last month’s robbery, two policemen were killed. However,
one of the robbers, later identified as Teslim Okunola, was also
killed. From the corpse, we were able to gather information which led to
the arrest of the other suspects.
“We recovered from them, five
AK-47 rifles, four dynamites, 64 AK 47 magazines fully loaded, two local
pistols, two masks and many charms.”
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