Policeman joins robbery to burst gang

A policeman is still receiving applauds from the top police hierarchy after he infiltrated a robbery gang and finally burst an eight-man-gang of robbers.
The gang had already chosen a target and were about to embark on an operation, which would earn the gang N14 million, when they suddenly realised they needed transport and a driver.
The policeman, simply identified as Azeez, was brought in to be the driver to drive the gang to their destination in Lagos State from Ogun State.
Immediately Azeez manned the wheel of the car, the officer drove the gang to a beer parlour after convincing the members to have one last drink before the operation.
They were drinking and mapping out their final plans, when armed policemen swooped on them.
The police recovered three guns from them and some ammunition.
The eight men are still reeling in shock and are finding it pretty difficult to explain how they landed in police net.
The suspects have been identified as: Gbenga Ajayi, Saheed Adekunle, Gbenga Saka, Joseph Sunday, Oladipupo Odetayo, Olabamidele Sanusi, Ismaila Adebayo and Adenekan Okanlawo.
According to most of the members of the gang, one Alfa Sule contracted them for the operation.
But Sule has been elusive since the bursting of the gang.
He apparently was neither in the car nor at the beer parlour on the fateful day were they supposed to go for the operation.
It was gathered that the police got a tip-off about the forthcoming robbery and Azeez’s team, led by woman Inspector Toyin Omosebi, sent Azeez to join the gang.
Gbenga Ajayi was the first person alerted by Alfa Sule about the robbery operation.
Ajayi thereafter notified Oladipupo Odetayo, who got other members of the gang.
Ajayi, who said he sells land and sand at Mowe, said: “It was Alfa Sule who contacted me about the job. I know Sule as my elder brother’s friend. He said the job would fetch us N14 million. He even said he would go to the victim’s home with us. A meeting was scheduled by Sule, I couldn’t attend, so I told Bamidele to represent me.”
Odetayo said: “Gbenga and I used to work together on land site. He told me that someone brought a job of N14 million. When I met Alfa Sule, he told me that the driver of the owner of the house was part of the operation. He said that it was the driver who would open the gate of the building and direct us to where the money was.”
Adetayo said that a few days after meeting with Sule, he called him on phone, telling him that they would strike that Saturday at Alagbado area of Lagos State.
He added: “This would have been my first robbery operation! I used to pick pocket and snatch phones, but never robbery. I decided to join because I needed money for my graduation. I have just finished my apprenticeship in plumbing and the graduation would cost me N120,000.”
Sanusi, who said that he also joined the gang because he needed money for his graduation ceremony after his apprenticeship in aluminium works, said he used to work with land speculators as one of their thugs before the lure of N14 million led to his downfall.
He said he initially did not want to go for the operation until his friend, Odetayo, told him that the Alfa, who brought the deal, would be going with them.
Sanusi said: “I told Sule that I didn’t have a gun, he promised to provide any gun we needed. I told him that I knew a guy who would give us a gun. He said it was okay. Alfa Sule said that some members would hold down the two guards at the gate of the house, while he would go inside the house and get the money.”
Sanusi remembered that Ismaila Adebayo has a gun.
He went to Adebayo who agreed to hire out the gun to him for N15,000.
“When Alfa later called me, I told him that we needed transport and a driver. On the night of the operation, about five of us gathered at Lagos/Ibadan expressway, where the driver came to pick us. We decided to go to a beer parlour to drink before heading for the operation. We had not even started drinking before police came and arrested us. They later went to arrest others.”
Gbenga Saka, another member of the gang, said that he also went to get a gun.
He rented the gun from an Indian hemp seller.
He however felt that police should be lenient with him because “the gun couldn’t shoot. I tried it, it wasn’t working.”
Odetayo brought the third gun.
He got it from a friend in prison.
He identified the friend as Corrador.
When he told Corrador about the forthcoming operation and that he needed a gun, Corrador directed him to an uncompleted building at Mowe and there he found the gun.
Police said that Adenekan Okanlawon was the commercial bike rider, who used to take Ismaila Adebayo to different gangs to supply guns for robbery operation.
But Okanlawon said that he was a victim of circumstance and was not a robber.
He however accepted that he carried Adebayo to some places.