THE pro-activeness of policemen from Eleyele Division of the Oyo State Police Command recently led to the arrest of Segun Oni, a member of a two-man robbery gang who specialised in moving about on a motorcycle and robbing people of their belongings.
Crime Features gathered that concered members of the public had visited the Division to report the activities of the hoodlums operating within Ibadan metropolis on an unregistered motorcycle.
In response to the report, the Divisional Police Officer, Mr Olawole Ayoola, was said to have despatched a team of detectives to monitor the hoodlum’s activities.
The efforts of the men eventually paid off same day at about 6.40p.m. when they sighted the suspects at Kokodome area of Dugbe where they were attempting to rob a man riding a Jeep. One of them, Oni, was arrested while the other one escaped.
Speaking with Crime Features after his arrest, Oni, who gave his age as 22 and said he hailed from Ila Orangun in Osun State, revealed that he had never engaged in any criminal act before his arrest and was deceived into the act by his friend, Mustapha.
According to Oni, “I knew Mustapha through my friends at Beere area. I am a scrap aluminium dealer which I pick about and also buy. I also ride okada. On the day I was arrested, I saw Mustapha at Beere motor park and he asked me to take him to Dugbe area, saying that he wanted to buy a shirt.
“On the way, he told me that he wanted to go and steal phones at Cocoa House area and promised to give me something out of the proceeds after he must have sold them. I agreed with him. We stopped and he moved towards a parked vehicle in which a child was. It seemed as if he was already known for his notoriety because he noticed that he was being watched by some policemen who were around the place and could no longer carry out his intention.
“We moved away from that spot and rode towards Radio Nigeria where we were stopped by the police who had by then trailed us. Mustapha ran away immediately while I was apprehended.”
Confirming the story, the police image maker in Oyo State, DSP Olabisi Ilobanafor said that the suspect had been transferred to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) for further investigations, after which he would be charged to court.
Pickpocket in police net for stealing from accident victim
A pickpocket, who disguised as a sympathiser on the rescue of some injured victims at the scene of an auto crash in Minna, Niger state capital, was recently caught by some eagle-eyed policemen while removing the sum of N1,500 from the pocket of one of the deceased victims of the crash, and has been, arraigned before a chief magistrate court for stealing from the dead.
The accused person, Sulaiman Hamza, who was remanded in prison custody on the order of the court last Friday after being charged for theft by the police was reported to have pleaded guilty to the offence.
Crime Features learnt that trouble began for the accused after a fatal auto crash at about 6.30 p.m. on Thursday, June 14, 2012.
The accident was said to have occurred when the driver of the Tipper lorry was descending the road junction at Inuwa roundabout, in Chanchaga Local Government area of the state capital.
It was further learnt that the driver experienced a brake failure and, in the process, hit an unidentified commercial motorcyclist, who was said to be going towards the same direction with the Tipper lorry.
Sources at the scene of the accident informed the Crime Features that the driver thereafter ran into five container shops and four other makeshift shops erected by the road side.
The source, who craved anonymity stated that, one of the occupiers of the shops identified as Rilwan Abdulahi was killed on the spot while the unidentified commercial motorcyclist also died on the way while being rushed to the General Hospital Minna.
Also, a police officer who begged not to be quoted said that the driver had since been arrested and detained at the Niger state Police Command headquarters, Minna for further investigation by the police.
He also added that the suspected pickpocket, was arrested at the scene of the accident while searching the purse of one of the deceased from which he had allegedly removed the sum of N1,500.
Lebanese arrested by Special Fraud Unit over alleged fraudulent conversion
THE Commissioner of Police, Special Fraud Unit, Ikoyi, Lagos, Mr. Tunde Ogunsakin has vowed
to remain tough and tall against fraudsters and corruption, with a view to making the economy fraud-free.
Through efforts to achieve this, he said that a Lebanese national, Hamza Koduh, has been arraigned in court in connection with fraudulent conversion of money in breach of Section 278(2) of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State.
According to Ogunsakin, the 29-year-old suspect was alleged to have had a peculiar mode of operation, as he usually made available his foreign account to persons who needed or desired to transfer money, some of which were said to be proceeds of Advanced Fee Fraud, popularly referred to as 419. Ogunsakin noted that in spite of the fact that the suspect must have known how illegitimate the money might be, he was still in the habit of converting such monies, mostly in US Dollars, to his own use.
The police boss, who spoke through a press statement signed and made available to Crime Features on Friday, July 6 by the spokesman of the police anti-graft unit, Mr. Pius Afachung, stated that the suspect had become notorious in these fraudulent practices and had criminally converted monies legitimately belonging to other people.
According to the release, “a case in point was the one in which $80,000 was paid into Hamza’s account TD4267795462. Having converted the money, the suspect falsely claimed that after lodging the money in Florida, the bank blocked the money and he could not have access to the money, whereas investigation revealed the contrary as he had converted the money to his personal use”.
The Commissioner noted that sometimes in May, 2012 , a release from the Unit was issued about the antics of the suspected Lebanese national.
The Commissioner of Police reiterated his strong commitment to the fight against fraudsters, whether they are Nigerians or foreigners, while he warned members of the public to be mindful of those they associate with, either as business partners or friends.
