CRIME NEWS

We attack targeted trucks at bad spots along highways —Suspected hijackers

The arrested suspects

TWO members of a gang which stock in trade was to rob trucks loaded with different merchandise after attaching themselves to the trucks at bad spots along the highway and ripping the tarpaulin covering with a jack knife, have been apprehended by the Oyo State Police Command.
The suspects, Ibrahim Haruna (32) and Alaka Afeez (30), were reportedly arrested by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Oyo/Ogbomoso axis on October 8, 2015 at their hideout in Ogbomoso town. Recovered from them were seven pieces of brand-new Royal motorcycles still in their cartons, 29 packs of rubber foot wears, a Misubishi Lancer car with registration number AE 791 LFF and a Volkswagen Polo car with registration number BDG 494 BKX.
Speaking with Crime Reports, the Commissioner of Police in Oyo State, Leye Oyebade, said that the suspects were also involved in hijacking trucks from drivers at gun point, after which the goods would be diverted to unknown destinations where they would be offloaded and sold.
Oyebade, who said his command had always placed premium on community partnership, with emphasis on intelligence gathering, reiterated his determination to ensure that the long arm of the law catches up on such hoodlums through effective policing. He added that they would be charged to court after diligent investigation, while manhunt continues for the receivers of the stolen goods sold in the past by the suspects.
Crime Reports also learnt that the suspects rented an apartment which they used to store the stolen items, while the owner of the house and another lady were also buyers. The SARS operatives were said to have initially stumbled on Haruna and his driver, one Sunday a.k.a. Etebor, while loading the goods stolen from a truck into a car along the expressway but they ran away and abandoned the vehicle and the goods. The vehicle, a Mitsubishi Lancer with registration number AE791 LFF, was recovered along with the motorcycles being loaded in it.
In an interview with Crime Reports, Haruna opened up on his modus operandi: “Nobody taught me this method of operation. I just thought of it while working as a motor boy with a tipper truck driver. I have been doing the job for six years. What I usually did with my gang members was that I would lay ambush at a bad spot along the highway. Our operations were always at night so that the driver would not sight us.
“Whenever the driver slowed down because of potholes, I would quickly attach myself to the back of the truck and start tearing the tarpaulin covering it with a jack knife. If the goods were not too heavy, I would start throwing them out, one after the other, while two other gang members would follow on a motorcycle and start picking them after me.
“I would wait for the driver to get to another bad spot before I would disembark. We would then go back to pick the goods and load them into a car. We had a room where we kept them before selling them. My buyers were one Dorcas and her sister, popularly called Iya Lati. Both of them are siblings to the owner of the apartment I rented as a store. They all knew that the goods were stolen. The goods I stole in the past included Vegetable oil, seasoning cubes, carpets, footwear and motorcycles. I am from Zaria, Kaduna State but I was born and bred in Ogbomoso.
“I decided to engage in crime because I had no father to help me. I am also married and she knew what I was doing. She also had no job or business so she depended on whatever I brought home. I had even fallen from trucks several times and got injured but the money I was getting from the sale of the robbed goods kept me on.” He also mentioned one Solo as a member of his gang.
In his own confession, Alaka, who claimed to be a vulcaniser before joining Haruna for robbery, said: “It was one Sir Kay who introduced me to Haruna about three months ago. Sir Kay ran away after he learnt that we have been arrested. I have been to three operations with him and he gave me N10,000; N15,000 and N12,000 respectively on each occasion. The okada belonged to Sir Kay.”
[Tribune]