ADELEKE ADESANYA
Police in Ogun have arrested a 25-year-old sales boy, Peter Okenu, for conniving with a gang of armed robbers to rob his boss in December last year.
Okenu was arrested following a painstaking investigation embarked upon by detectives from Ifo divisional headquarters, who had been on the trail of the robbery gang since December 17, 2020, when the incident occurred and the case was reported.
The sales boy’s boss, who was the victim of the robbery operation, one Stephen Anyi, reported at Ifo police station that his house at Kajola Phase 2 area of Ifo was invaded at about 2:00am by a seven-man robbery gang armed with guns, cutlasses and axes and held him and his family hostage before dispossessing them of a sum of N150,000, his laptop, phones, plasma television and his Toyota Highlander with registration number KJA 38 FZ, which the robbers used to cart away the items stolen from him.
Following the report by Anyi, the Divisional Police Officer, Ifo, CSP Adeniyi Adekunle detailed his crack detectives to go after the robbers with a view to bringing them to book within the shortest possible time.
The detectives who then embarked on intelligence and technical investigation were able to trace the hoodlums to Mushin area of Lagos State, where they were about to dispose the Toyota highlander and rounded up four members of the gang namely: Ibrahim Arowolo, 24; Sowemimo Faruk, 18; Yusuf Azeez, 23 and Yakubu Ibrahim, 31.
During interrogation, the arrested suspects confessed to the police that it was the victim’s sale boy, Peter Okenu, who connived with the gang to rob his master.
They stated further that the sales boy who was in-charge of the victim’s shop at Sango met them and gave them the description of his boss’ residence.
The sales boy was promptly arrested and he has confessed to the commission of the crime, a statement by the state Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said.
The statement also listed items recovered from the gang to include; a Toyota highlander with registration number KJA 38 FZ, one locally made single barrel cut-to-size gun, one locally made double barrel pistol, 3 cutlasses and four different types of phones.
The PPRO added that the state Commissioner of Police, Edward A. Ajogun who was full of praises for the police operatives for their display of vibrant intelligence investigation, had directed that the case be transferred to the violent crime intervention unit of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for discreet investigation.
The police commissioner also ordered that the remaining members of the gang be hunted and apprehended within the shortest possible period.