Olaitan who said he attended LA Primary School, Obalende in Ijebu-Ode, said he also trained as a mechanic in Ode-Remo, also in Ogun State. He is regretting that he fled home like a prodigal child and got into robbery instead of perfecting his artistry as a motor mechanic.
Their names are Ezekiel Jayesimi, Olamilekan Teniola, Habeeb Salaudeen and Olaitan Sonibare. If you call the four men suspected interstate robbers, you won’t be far from the truth. In the words of the Ogun State Police Command, they live in Lagos but carry out robbery operations in Ogun State.
The long arm of the law has caught up with four of them in Lagos where they were hibernating after committing several crimes.
According to the police, their arrest was a result of sustained intelligence operations and swift police coordinated response. It was gathered that they had engaged the police in a gun duel and escaped, but the bullet holes on their operational vehicle gave them away.
In an interview with Saturday Sun, Olaitan who said he attended LA Primary School, Obalende in Ijebu-Ode, said he also trained as a mechanic in Ode-Remo, also in Ogun State. He is regretting that he fled home like a prodigal child and got into robbery instead of perfecting his artistry as a motor mechanic. He also claimed lack of funds to set up a proper mechanic workshop pushed him into crime. He said it was greed that made him continue the illicit robbery business which he had been into since 2021.
The Gang Members
He confirmed the detectives’ account that he drove the gang to different crime locations in a RAV 4 car handed to him by a member of their gang who he identified as Badoo. Badoo, according to Olaitan, specialises in snatching vehicles.
In his words, he never participated in car-snatching but had driven Badoo to Oyo on regular basis for robbery.
A distress call was made to the law enforcement agency when they launched an attack on a group of persons they tagged Yahoo Boys in Ode-Remo area of Ogun State.
The robbers reportedly escaped, but it was just a temporary respite. Their driver, one Olaitan Sonibare, 25, was arrested in Mushin area of Lagos. The rest have also been picked up by the police detectives, led by a Chief Superintendent of Police, Fasogbon Olayemi. All of them are currently being detained at the State Police Command in Eleweran, Ogun State.
The robbers were arrested on March 13 2023. It was gathered that they have confessed to a number of crimes, including several armed robbery operations.
For instance, they said they invaded a residence at COTCO Road, Ode-Remo, dispossessing then residents of their belongings in January.
Police spokesperson in Ogun State, Abimbola Oyeyemi, a Superintendent of Police, said the suspected robbers had earlier escaped in their white operational RAV 4 SUV.
He confirmed that gunshot holes gave the robbers away. The vehicle that the driver, Olaitan drove reportedly ran into another police team at Warewa area of Ogun State. The bullet holes on the vehicle drew the officers’ attention to the car. When they got curious and started asking questions, Olaitan abandoned the car and took to his heels.
But his relief was temporary. Police detectives went to work and smoked some of them out from their hideout in the Mushin area of Lagos
He narrated to Saturday Sun that he drove the gang to rob some persons they referred to as Yahoo Boys. He admitted that during their operations, they carted away laptops, phones, and other items. The young man, who boasted that he is a ‘road master’, told Saturday Sun that he is also a singer and is good at comedy. But he denied being a cultist. He said the tattoos on his body are just for fashion, saying that he was influenced into wearing tattoos by the type of life he was used to in his Mushin environment in Lagos. He said the flamboyant lifestyles around him pushed him into crime
Also speaking to Saturday Sun, 30-year-old Ezekiel Jayesimi, a motorcycle mechanic who admitted to leading the gang to Isara in Ode-Remo, Ogun State, said he participated in the January robbery that led to their arrest.
He said he had belonged to a different gang before joining his new-found allies. He said his former gang used to rob people of their phones within Isara, Ogun State. He said he lived in Kaka’s House, Ijabata in Isara, Ogun State.
He claimed he began robbery in January with his new gang when a certain drug dealer called Baba Ori gave them a link to rob some internet fraudsters known as Yahoo Boys. He stated that because he could no longer contact his former gang, he went on operation with the new group.
His new gang of robbers, according to him, was recommended by one Aransi, who he said had been buying stolen phones from him and other gang members. He added that he got to know Aransi through one Toyosi.
Speaking of the gang’s modus operandi and how the gang members were arrested, Ezekiel said Aransi broke into their victims’ home around midnight on the fateful day, broke the door with kicks and used guns brought by Baba Ori while carrying out the operations.
Said he: “We went to Ode-Remo and we got there at night, and a guy called Badoo entered the house by kicking the door open. Seven of us went for the operation, but Badoo, JJ and Aransi escaped. Aransi was the one who introduced me to Badoo.”
He said he was later arrested in Lagos when his partners asked him to come to Mushin. Also, 22-year-old Olamilekan Teniola said he was part of the gang and corroborated what Ezekiel and Olaitan earlier said. Olamilekan spoke about his role too.
He said before this incident, he was arrested for a crime, but after 11 days in detention, his mother secured his bail with a stern warning from the Divisional Police Officer in Isara, Ogun State.
But he was not done yet with the illegal trade. He explained that he later used his mother’s phone to locate Ezekiel, who had already travelled and was staying at Ogijo, an Ogun community near Ikorodu in Lagos.
He claimed he went to meet Ezekiel and stayed with him. He said Ezekiel later informed him about a planned robbery operation in Ode-Remo in Ogun State. He said other members of the gang were Badoo and Olaitan. He said Badoo threatened him and informed him that they were out to rob. At the crime scene, he said he was detailed to keep watch at the gate.
He said others alighted, entered the house and came back with laptops and phones.
Olamilekan also told this reporter that they moved to another house, where they took more laptops and phones that night.
Like the proverbial dog that returned to his vomit, he said they returned to the same area two weeks later to commit more robberies. But he said the police came after them, which made Badoo to fire into the air to aid their escape.
Olamilekan said he got N50,000 from proceeds made from sales of the stolen items. He said he used his share to rent a house.
Olaitan confirmed that items recovered from him include a phone, gold jewellery, a white American dog and a solar fan.
Olamilekan said four days after the operation, Olaitan asked him and others to come to Mushin. They were unaware that Olaitan had been arrested and that the police were waiting for them. According to him, they never suspected that they were being lured to Mushin on the instruction of the detectives.
Habeeb Salaudeen, 23, who lives in Agric, Ikorodu area of Lagos, confessed to joining the gang on two occasions for robbery. He claimed Olaitan introduced him to the gang. He said he knew Olaitan from Mushin, where he was selling illicit drugs. Like the others, he too is currently begging for mercy.
Oyeyemi said the police also recovered four iphones and 13 android phones from the suspects. He assured that the suspects would soon have their day in court as soon as investigations were concluded.
