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Three security guards with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, working in Mowe area, Obafemi Owode Local Government, Ogun State, are currently fighting the battle of their lives after being arrested for robbery.
The trio of Segun Sunday, Alimi Rafiu and Rotimi Adekoya were arrested by the men of the Mowe Division of the Ogun State Command of the Nigerian Police after a fleeing suspected thief, Femi Ahmed, reported that he had been attacked and robbed by the guards.
The 22-year-old Ahmed was said to be on the run after allegedly stealing N50,000 belonging to his employer, a bakery owner in Mowe, before he was apprehended by the security guards, who inflicted machete cuts on him before dispossessing him of N78,000.
Crime Digest gathered that the guards, however, showed the fleeing thief some “mercy” by “refunding” N8,000 to him before he was allowed to leave their den...photo: 2 of the Guardian Robbers
A police source said matters got to a head when Ahmed reported his ordeal in the hands of the guards at the Mowe Police Station, seeking their intervention for being robbed of his “hard-earned” money.
The source said, “The suspect (Ahmed) claimed that he was robbed around 11 pm by a group of armed robbers who attacked him and collected the sum of N78,000 from him after beating him with a cutlass.”
Unknown to Ahmed, the bakery owner, who had employed him as one of his workers, had reported at the same Mowe Police Station that Ahmed had fled after stealing N50,000.
The police source said, “This came unexpectedly for Ahmed who was planning to escape to Kwara State, where he was still schooling before he came to work at the bakery in Mowe. He went to the police to report not knowing that his boss had already reported him to the police the same day and that they were looking for him. So, he was promptly arrested after identifying himself.”
Crime Digest gathered that the police mounted a manhunt for the unsuspecting NNPC security guards based on the report and description given to them by Ahmed, who was able to identify Sunday as the one who collected the money from him.
The suspect told Crime Digest, that he came to Mowe to raise some funds so that he could complete his Senior Secondary School education.
Ahmed said, “I live in Okerele in Kwara State. I’m still in SS 2 at Okerele Secondary School in Kwara State. I wanted to raise money for my education; that was why I decided to come here and I have been here for six months.
“I was able to steal my oga’s (boss) N50,000 and was escaping with it when the man stopped me and told me he was a security man. He said I should bring all the money I had on me. I was reluctant, but he brought out a cutlass and hit me with it. I gave him the N78,000 and he returned N8,000 to me.”
But Sunday claimed he only “arrested” the boy and collected the money he saw with him.
“I was the one that arrested this boy when I saw him that night, but I gave him N8,000 out of the N78,000 I collected from him,” said Sunday, who could not offer any explanation on why he attacked the boy he claimed to have arrested with a cutlass.
Adekoya claimed that Sunday came to meet him that night and gave him N6,000 after telling him what he had done.
“I returned the money to him because I felt what he did was not good, but I did not bother to report him; all I did was to tell Rafiu about it and Rafiu said it was a good thing that I did not collect the money from him. If we had reported him that day to our oga, we won’t be here now,” he said.
The State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Musa Daura, confirmed the incident, saying the suspects would soon appear in court for prosecution.