Detectives attached to Festac Police Station in Lagos State have arrested suspected thieves who douse their victims with sleeping substances before dispossessing them of their valuables.
One of the suspects arrested, Ifeanyi Chizoba, told the police that the powdery substance, usually sprinkled on handkerchiefs, makes their job easier.
Chizoba’s words: “The sleeping substance is in powdery form.
“We usually sprinkle it in a handkerchief.
“When we get to where we want to operate, usually a shop, we would shake the handkerchief like we want to use it to wipe our faces.
“Immediately the people in a shop inhale the substance, they would sleep off.
“This gives us the opportunity to ransack the shop.”
The suspect further confessed that they had robbed many people using this modus operandi.
A police sergeant attached to the Festac Police Station said that the two robbers, who specialised in escaping on motorcycle after drugging and dispossessing their victims of their valuables, were robbing in a shop at 4th Avenue, Festac Town last week Sunday when somebody sighted them.
The person would later tell the police that he saw the two men in the shop and suspected their furtive movements.
He quickly alerted the police.
The Divisional Police Officer in charge of the station, Superintendent of Police Ifeanyi Owo, led anti-robbery policemen to the scene.
The suspects, on sighting the policemen, took to their heels.
The police pursued and arrested Chizoba, while his partner, alleged to be in possession of a gun, escaped on a motorcycle.