•Robbers take over ‘Mile 2 Oke’
Following police assault on ‘One
million boys’ robbery gang that made life unbearable for residents of
Ajeromi-Ifelodun Local Government, Ifelodun and Apapa-Iganmu Local Council
Development Areas in Lagos, there are indications that the criminals have gone
underground.
Investigations revealed that they
hibernate in some high-profile hotels in the affected areas with their female
partners and engage in Internet browsing.
Sunday Sun had reported the
terrorizing activities of the gang last week and days later, the Police swooped
on their suspected hideouts and arrested 130 suspects.
However, residents of the affected
area still keep vigil for fear of the bad boys who some times rape women after
robbing their victims.
It was gathered that each street has
vigilante team that are on patrol at night.
Each house volunteers one or two
persons.
It was also gathered that as a
precautionary measure, some streets have placed embargo on night parties and
where allowed, it must end at 11pm and the organisers must obtain permission
from the residents’ associations.
Meanwhile, Mile 2 Oke has become a dangerous
place for motorists from 5pm, especially when there is traffic jam.
The robbers, who are armed with
dangerous weapons ranging from knives to short guns, capitalise on the gridlock
to rob motorists.
Their strategy is that they pretend to
be beggars and target mostly occupants of posh cars and dispossess them of
their valuable items such as laptops, phones and money.
Checks revealed that the robbers have
been a pain in the necks of road users for months.
A victim, Mr. Lucky Onosebhagbe, told
Sunday Sun that he had been attacked several times.
According to him, ordinary passersby
hardly notice the robberies because the hoodlums are usually too fast to arouse
suspicion.
He said they usually demand for money,
blackberry and where a victim fails, they would remove the side mirror of the
vehicle and run away.
Onoseghagbe said: “Now I don’t pass
there until I am very sure the traffic is free. Those boys are deadly and they
rob everyday. I was a victim several times.
“If you don’t give them good phone or
money and your glass is down, they will take off your side mirror, give you a
punch on your face and run to the other vehicle behind you for the same
operation.”
He said that he was attacked on
September 6 at about 6:20 m and on Monday, September 10 at 7:43pm.
Another victim, Jonah Aihbholoria,
said that he suffered same fate in the area.
It was also gathered that a man
identified simply as Mr. Felix had to do thanksgiving in his church after he
survived an attack in the same place.
He was said to have lost N15,000 and a
blackberry phone to the criminals who robbed him at about 7.30pm at gunpoint.
Investigations by Sunday Sun revealed
that the criminals operate from Otto Wharf up to Mile 2, on both sides of the
expressway.
In most cases, they would merely open
their shirts to victims to show their guns as hint of possible danger if they
failed to cooperate.
Other motorists who spoke to our
correspondent appealed to the state Commissioner of Police to save them from
the ugly experiences by deploying policemen including armed detectives to the
area.
… As Police arrest 26 of them at Amukoko
Twenty-six
suspected robbers belonging to the dreaded ‘one million boys’ gang have been
arrested by police from Area ‘B’ command in Lagos State.
The suspects, according to a police
source, were arrested on Saturday morning at around 1.30a.m at Amukoko in
Ifelodun Local Council Development Area.
They were said to have converged in a
beer parlour in the area for more than three hours ostensibly to perfect their
plan when police got a tip-off from some good Samaritans and moved in to arrest
them.
In the operation, which was said to
have been led personally by the Area Commander, Muhammed A, Ali (ACP), 10
cutlasses were recovered from the suspected criminals.
It was gathered that before the major
operation, the police sent some detectives to the area after the tip-off and
they mingled with the suspects for some minutes and discovered that they were
up to a sinister action.
It was learnt that when they suspected
that those strange faces in their midst could be policemen, they lowered their
voices and changed their discussion but before then the detectives had already
got reasonable information from them.
Later patrol teams swooped on them and
arrested them.
The police source disclosed that after
their arrest, the police inquired from the members of Odua Peoples’ Congress
(OPC) and the vigilante group who were securing the area to confirm whether the
suspects lived in the area but none of them could be identified as a resident.
They were later moved to Area ‘B’
where they are currently undergoing interrogation.
It was gathered that a day earlier,
160 suspects were arrested by the command in operations aimed at sweeping the
‘boys’ out of the state.
Culled
from Sun
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