After twice visiting Mecca, the Islamic holy city, one would expect Alhaji Idowu Saliu to live above board like Ceasar’s wife.
But the police are claiming that Saliu is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
According to them, he has been the Second-in-Command of a gang of suspected robbers who were snatching exotic cars and selling them at giveaway prices.
Saliu, with his suspected partner in crime, Saheed Onitolo, were caught with sophisticated weapons, including military assault rifles, two cut-to-size locally made single barrel pistol, 22 rounds of 2.6mm life ammunition, and five live catridges concealed under their car’s door mat.
The Nigerian Compass gathered that luck ran out on Saliu’s gang after a tip-off from a woman, who had allegedly once been robbed by the gang.
Saliu was subsequently handed over to the police at the State Criminal Investigations Department(SCID), Panti, Yaba, for further investigations.
Police spokesperson, Frank Mba, told journalists that the Lagos State Police Command is determined, more than ever, to continue in the fight against all kinds of crimes and vices in the state.
His words: “We have two suspected armed robbers here in our midst. The two suspects identified themselves as Idowu Saliu and Saheed Onitolo. They were arrested on July 12, 2010, and were subsequently transferred to SCID for a much more comprehensive investigation after preliminary investigation at the local station showed that they indeed had some connections with some robbery incidents.
“One of the vehicles that had so far been recovered from this gang, is this Honda Bulldog Saloon car. But one of the intriguing thing here is the way and manner their arms were concealed in this car as at the time the car was recovered from them. Special anti-robbery operatives from the state CID who conducted a diligent search on this vehicle, recovered military assault rifles, two cut-to-size locally made single barrel pistol, 22 rounds of .6mm live ammunition, and five live cartridge.”
The suspect were said to have neatly packed the recovered arms into the side door-mat of the car. Mba said: “This was yet another ingenious way of concealing arms by robbers. It was like having a mobile armoury in an automobile.”
Saliu, 30, who has two wives and two kids, said he took to robbery due to frustration after he was duped of N1.5million by unknown persons.
He however narrated the circumstances that led him to robbery.
He said: “I live at Ayomare Street, Sango-Ota. I am married with two children. I am a cobbler by profession, but now a confirmed robber. I traveled sometime ago and was duped by unknown persons of N1.5 million. Tunji introduced me into this robbery business, and he owns the guns we use for all our operations. Whenever I visit him at his home, at Ikoyi, Lagos, he always gives me some money.
“One day, during such a visit, he introduced me to the business of snatching people’s vehicles and since then, I have been in the business.
“We usually target roads that are not motorable. Roads that are very bad, which we know that car owners would not be able to speed on. If they get to such roads, they’ll be forced to slow down. We snatch sport cars such as Camry, Honda and other cars of that class within Lagos State. So far, I have snatched six to seven cars. I used guns to carry out the operation. We are a two-man-gang. How we operate is this: we get to an area that is not too motorable and wait, pretending as though we are waiting for commercial vehicles, and when our innocent victims get close to a point we know will be difficult for them to turn, we bring out our guns and rob them of their cars; but we do not kill. Our operations are always during night hours.
“When we snatch the cars, our Oga will send people to come and collect the cars and pay us N150,000. When Tunji, our Oga heard of our arrest, he absconded and has not been found!”
On how he was arrested, he said: “I parked my car somewhere around Egbeda. I was strolling when one woman identified me as a member of a gang that snatched her car sometimes and called on people to arrest me.
“By the time I ran to where I parked my vehicle, it was too late. Angry hands grabbed and dragged me to the police station.
“My wife is not aware that I am into this sort of business and I regret becoming a member of a robbery gang.
“I regret being an armed robber. I pray to be forgiven. I also call on all the people I have snatched their cars to please forgive me. I took to robbery because I was duped!”
The other suspect, Onitolo, 22, who claims to be an automobile engineer, however said that although he was a member of the gang, his duty was to push any snatched vehicle to a selling point.
He further revealed that although he was not receiving much money from the business compared to the risk involved, the peanuts he received had so far been useful to him.
He said his pay for shifting the snatched vehicles was around the sum of N40,000 to N50,000.
Onitolo was once an inmate at the Ikoyi prisons. He explained that he was arrested and charged to court for working on a car brought to him by a customer; a car he never knew was a stolen one. He spent eight months in prison, there he met some criminal elements, who rather than change in prison, were busy plotting their next robbery operation once they gained their freedom.
His words: “I am Saheed Onitolo, from Oyo State. I am an automobile engineer. Someone I met at the Maximum Prison, Ikoyi, called Gbenga, initiated me into the business of robbery. When we were at the prison, he was very helpful, assisting me in all ways, including giving me food. When we were both released from the prison, he introduced me to a car dealer who was incidentally our boss.
“After every operation, I drive to the stand for sales. I have only been involved in three robbery operations.”
There was also another case where policemen from Elere Police Station made startling discoveries.
Mba said: “What you have here is a recovery made from Elere Police Station. This vehicle was intercepted on July 31, 2010. Policemen from the station, who were on routine patrol, intercepted the vehicle at about 12 midnight. Immediately police sighted the bus and flagged it down, the driver sharply pulled up and several men jumped out, scampering in different directions. Like well trained and moderated police officers, the policemen restrained from opening fire on the fleeing men. This was so because, it was difficult to know why they were fleeing.
“The abandoned vehicle was later searched but nothing was found. The vehicle was subsequently towed to the police station.
“Subsequent events showed that these robbers had a way of concealing their weapons in the vehicle, and this triggered the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) to call for proper search of the abandoned vehicle.
“The vehicle was dismantled and proper search conducted. After the search, several arms were recovered from the vehicle including: three AK47 rifles, two sub-machine guns.
“The police have gone too far to look back. We thanked the state for its support and pledge to give our unalloyed support to zero tolerance in fighting crime in the state.
By Godwin Akpan and Yomi Ajiboye
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