God save this country, Amen. Please Read!IG Okiro Acelebrated Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), hitherto erroneously mistaken for a saviour by the defenceless as the “no-nonsense” head of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of one of the states in the South-West is in trouble. He is now in police custody for allegedly operating three deadly armed robbery gangs that were responsible for breaking banks and snatching exotic cars in major cities across the country.His exploits in the underworld, by The Nation’s findings, out-shone George Iyamu, who, strangely, was also a DSP, whose scandalous exploits earned him death through a firing squad in March 1987, following a death sentence passed on him by Justice James Omo-Agege of the High Court of Justice in Benin City. He was found guilty of aiding a vicious robbery gang led by Lawrence Anini which tortured the peace of the nation for over three months.In that saga, Nigerians were aghast with shock when it was revealed that Iyamu was the insider-informant, who was paid handsomely by the "Anini Group" for classified information that made their victims easy preys.Unlike Iyamu, whose stock-in-trade was merely giving protective information to Anini and his gang, however, the present DSP, investigations revealed, had been the sole sponsor and godfather for robbery gangs that recently carried out violent attacks on banks across the country.The plotting of his royal pathway to the police dragnet began when, two weeks ago, a robbery suspect, who had, with other dreaded members of his gang, robbed a bank in Ibadan, where they carted away about N14 million was nabbed with another member of the gang.The suspect, who reportedly got a share of N3 million, had gone on a spending-free session at a liquor joint in Ibadan when other customers around began to suspect him because of the way he was spending money.An authoritative source confirmed to The Nation that the police, upon a tip-off, put the robbery suspect under surveillance, which led to the law enforcers’ discovery of a wound on his leg."Following police investigations, the suspect initially lied that he had sustained the injury when he was on a hunting expedition because he was a hunter."The police took their investigations to a clinic where he was said to be receiving treatment on the leg. Eventually, the truth came to the open and he was arrested in Ibadan with some money with the wrappers of a bank which the gang had recently burgled in the city. That was how his gang was exposed," disclosed the source.Following intense interrogation, the suspect, The Nation learnt, threw what appeared to be a bombshell to Oyo State Police Command: The DSP supplied information, arms and ammunition to his gang which had attacked banks and snatched posh cars in Benin, Abuja, Lagos and Ado-Ekiti, among other cities across the country.Apparently believing that the robber’s confession was aimed at framing up the suspect for supposedly being the thorn in the flesh of armed robbers in the state, the state Police Commissioner was said to have referred the case to the Federal SARS, Abuja, earlier set up by the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro.The source revealed further: "The arrested robbery suspect disclosed to the men at SARS, Abuja that the suspect had a giant personal house where the gang used to meet in Ibadan to strategise for operations. When the Abuja team got to the desolate house in Ibadan, the DSP was said to have denied ownership of the house. But the suspect insisted, saying that he was ready to unveil all the hidden things there. Upon his instruction, the police detectives opened a room where they allegedly found the suspect’s photograph beside a bed."The robber later took them to an underground apartment where eight AK 47 rifles were recovered with 36,000 rounds of live ammunition which the police officer used to distribute to members of his gangs for operations. The robber also took the policemen to the backyard of the house where nine blood-stained exotic cars, including SUVs recently snatched by the gang, were parked. Shocked to the marrow by the discovery, the spolice team there and then arrested the DSP on the spot with his uniform on."Further investigations later revealed that some of the riffles belonged to the policemen killed in line of duty by armed robbers on his order, while seven were allegedly stolen by him from the armoury when he was said to be the Officer-in-Charge of the state’s anti-robbery outfit last year. While in the state, he was widely feared and celebrated as a gallant officer who was genuinely committed to stamping out robberies in the state, unknown to people that he masterminded all the robberies," revealed the source.When he was taken to his station for further investigation by the Abuja team, the suspect reportedly begged the team to take N4 million and kill him to save his face from shame.The source explained: "He said he would organise N4 million for members of the team if they could save his face. It was when the team was about entering the state’s Criminal Investigations Department, with him after he had confessed that some of the rifles he had been giving to his gangs’ members were stolen from the SCID."Most of the officers there were junior to him, and he was afraid of how they would feel upon learning of his inglorious exploits. He knew the shame would be too much for him to bear; that was why he had to resort to fruitless begging."The suspect, who is now being detained in Abuja, the source said, confessed to having three robbery gangs, two among which specialized in bank robberies while the other was primarily concerned with snatching expensive cars which were eventually sold to ready buyers in Togo, Burkina Faso and Benin Republic.The IG, The Nation also learnt, has ordered comprehensive investigations into his various property which include four houses in Lagos, three in Ibadan, four at Ado-Ekiti, one in Abuja and a plaza under construction in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)."He is said to own five trucks and 12 personal cars," the source said, adding: "The IG is taking the case very seriously. In fact, he has ordered a very exhaustive investigation into it. He also demanded daily briefings on the matter."The Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), could, however, not be reached by press time yesterday for comments.
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