Robbers finger Soldier as gang driver

A serving Soldier is fighting hard to convince the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Ikeja, Lagos State that he was not part of the robbery gang that fingered him as their driver.
The suspect, Lance Corporal Zakaria Saleh, was nailed after some of the gang members arrested by SARS operatives, mentioned his name as a gang member.
Saleh is attached to 135 Artillery Battalion, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
The gang members alleged that Saleh had been operating with them for over a year now.
Saleh has denied being a member of the gang, but could not convince SARS men, who arrested him at a filling station in Mowe, Ibafo, Ogun State after he responded to phone call from one of the robbers that there was going to be an operation.
A source said: “One of the gang members, Adejino Isiaka, called him on phone and told him that there would be operation that day.
“He told Zakaria to meet him at a filling station in Ibafo.
“In less than two hours, Zakaria was there.
“He said he had never set eyes on any of the robbers, but he could not explain how the gang members knew his name and phone number and why he rushed to the venue stipulated by Isiaka.”
According to Isiaka, Saleh was the person who used to make their robbery operations successful.
“He said that once they were going for operation, Saleh would wear his military uniform, making it easy for the gang to sail through security checkpoints.
Most times, Saleh would drive or sit in front, where he would be sighted by security agents.
Investigators have also discovered that the soldier was reduced from the rank of a Sergeant to Lance Corporal over a crime he committed three years ago.
Saleh has refused to open up on the alleged crime.
Building his own defence, Saleh said that although he was not a member of the gang, he however used to collect stolen cars from the gang members, which he sells for them.
He claimed that when he asked them where they get the cars from, they told him that they have brothers residing in Benin Republic.
Saleh was handed over to military police on Thursday for orderly room trial, after which he would be returned to SARS for further investigation.