Six suspected members of a robbery gang have been arraigned before a Magistrates’ Court sitting in Ilorin on Thursday by the Police in Kwara State.
The six suspects are Anafi Mudashiru, Lawal Abubakar, Abdulrazak Owoseni, Wasiu Babatunde, Olemilekan Adekalu and Ismaila Olarewaju.
They were brought before Magistrate Soliu Mohammed on offences bordering on belonging to a gang of thieves.
The Prosecuting Counsel, Inspector Monshood Adebayo, told the court that the suspects were charged for criminal conspiracy, belonging to a gang of thieves, and having possession of things reasonably suspected of having been stolen, which contravened Sections 97, 306 and 319A of the Penal Code.
Adebayo said the suspects were arrested in a criminal hide-out at Gambari area of Ilorin.
He added that searches conducted on the suspects led to the recovery of a wrap of weed suspected to be Indian hemp and two wristwatches suspected to have been stolen from an unknown person.
The Magistrate pointed out that his court does not have the jurisdiction to try one of the offences the suspects are charged for, belonging to a gang of thieves, and can only be tried by the High Court, according to Section 299 of Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Kwara.
The Prosecuting Counsel, through an exparte motion, requested that the defendants be remanded for a period of seven days in the correctional facility, pending further investigation to fully understand the completion of the matter.
Magistrate Mohammed, however, rejected the remand application on the ground that the court could not try the case, since the prosecution will forward the case to the office of the Attorney General for legal advice.
Counsel to the defendants, Abdulrasheed Awolade, sought for the bail of the defendant, pending their arraignment in court, through the provision of Section 36, Subsection 5 of 1999 Constitution as altered and Section 169 of Kwara Administration of Criminal Justice Law.
Awolade submitted further that even though the court could not try the case, but that it could still oblige their bail application.
Magistrate Mohammed however obliged to the defense counsel’s plea, granting bail on 250,000 each and two reliable sureties that must be blood relatives.
He, therefore, adjourned the matter till Oct. 12 for further mention.
