Crime
Ogun: Police arrest two armed gang members for robbing Pastor
By Bankole Taiwo, Abeokuta
Two members of an armed robbery gang who robbed one pastor Godwin Ojerinde of God’s Will Praying Ground, Siun in Obafemi Owode local government area have been apprehended by operatives of Ogun state police command.
The two suspects, Oshilaru Bidoun and Tolulope Oluwafemi, a female with three other members of their gang were said to broken into the Pastor’s house at about 3:15 am of on the 9th of February 2021 armed with guns and other dangerous weapons.
According to statement from the Spokesman of the state police command, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi on Tuesday, the hoodlums were said to have held the Pastor and his family hostage, ransacked the house and dispossessed them of one Pathfinder Jeep with registration number WDE-38-MM, one Samsung A20 handset and one infinix hot note handset.
Receiving the information, the DPO Owode-Egba division, CSP Mathew Ediae and his crack detectives were said to have embarked on an intensive technical and intelligence based investigation in order to unravel those responsible for the heinous crime.
However, after weeks of painstaking investigation, the duo of Oshilaru Biodun and Tolulope Oluwafemi were apprehended based on a tipoff.
Upon interrogation, the suspects were said to have confessed to being parts of the robbery syndicate confessing further that the Pathfinder Jeep has been sold to someone in Ogere Ogun state and that the vehicle was already on its way to the Northern part of the country.
The detectives were said to have quickly started tracing the vehicle, and it was eventually recovered in Mokwa, Niger State.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, CP Edward A. Ajogun has ordered the transfer of the suspects to the State criminal investigation and intelligence department for discreet investigation. He also directed that efforts should be intensified to bring the fleeing members of the gang to book.
It was a hard truth that needed to be told, because it changed the atmosphere, but not for good as one person was reportedly killed and over10 critically injured.
Without any warning or provocation, over hundred boys armed with cutlasses, sticks and AK47 rifles, from suburbs and communities such as: Odogbolu, Ososa, Idoha, Ikenne, Ijebu-Imushin, Sagamu and Imodi unleashed mayhem as they disturbed the peace of the area. The rioters ignited the violence from the night before the Eld adha celebration.
The hoodlums were said to be looking for one Akeem Adesanya dead or alive. Akeem Adesanya, Bashiru Suraju Sanni, Bayo Adetunde and Hamzat Mammne were the alleged bisexual individuals being hunted by the hoodlums.
They claimed that many young men all around the town were missing and the story behind their disappearance is the fast spreading tale of strange immoral behaviour and characters (homosexuality). The rampaging youths believe that religiously, culturally and naturally Nigerians would not allow, condone or accept such highly unscrupulous behaviours.
Homes and families of the alleged victims were attacked over failure to produce them.
They accosted a young woman, mother of two, begged for her life and confessed that she has not set her eyes or know the whereabouts of Akeem Adesanya, her baby father for the past two years.
The uprising was subdued by the community elders in order to keep and maintain the peace in the community.
The Nigeria Customs Service said its operatives intercepted nine containers carrying offensive items including arms, ammunition, Illicit drugs and second-hand clothes worth N13.9 billion.
The Comptroller-General, NCS, Adewale Adeniyi disclosed this on Monday while addressing journalists in Onne Port, Rivers State.
Adeniyi said one of the containers which originated from Turkey, based on the number of risk factors associated with the importation, became a subject of interest to the service.
Giving details of the container, the CG said, “We have followed its sail across continents and we’ve benefitted immensely from credible information through our collaboration with intelligence communities both at local, national and international levels,”
According to him, the importer tried to circumvent the procedure through the outlet of a private-bonded terminal.
“On Friday 21st of June 2024, the auspicious container was subjected to a thorough physical examination. Inside the container were 844 units of assorted riffles and 12,500 pieces of life ammunition,” which Adeniyi said were “concealed with various items like doors, furniture fittings and leather bags.”
An operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Idi Musa, on Monday testified against a social media celebrity, Ismaila Mustapha popularly known as Mompha, charged with six billion Naira money laundering.
Mustapha, still at large, is standing trial alongside his company, Ismalob Global Investment Ltd., on eight counts bordering on money laundering.
Musa, the sixth prosecution witness, while being led in evidence by the EFCC Counsel, Mr Suleiman Suleiman, told the court how he came across Mompha and his company during the investigation.
He said the commission received an intelligence information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that Mompha and his company led a cybercrime in the United States of America.
“Sometimes in 2019, we received intelligence information from the FBI, U.S.A which was addressed to the commission informing us that first and second defendants were leading a cybercrime in U.S. A known as yahoo yahoo.
“The intelligence information indicated that the first and second defendants belong to a syndicate operating between Nigeria and across border, defrauding some internet users.
“In the course of investigation, some letters were written to Zenith Bank requesting for account statement of the second defendant and also to the other bank linked to the first defendant, which include Fidelity Bank, and the account statement received was analysed.
“During the analysis, we discovered N30 billion inflow through the account of the first defendant in Fidelity Bank and about N5 billion in Zenith Bank account,” he said.
The witness further said letters were written to the FBI and the Special Fraud Unit of EFCC regarding the defendant claiming he was into Bureau De Change (BDC).
He added that letter was written to the Central Bank of Nigeria and other relevant agencies.
The witness said that investigation revealed that the first defendant did not reside in Nigeria and efforts to get across to him proved abortive.
“A letter was written to the Nigeria Immigration Services on Oct.16, 2019, to arrest the defendant anytime he arrives Nigeria.
“On Oct.18, 2019, the first defendant got the information that the commission was looking for him, while he was in Nigeria, he quickly got to airport, boarded a flight in other to escape arrest.
“The team got the information through the immigration at the airport but Mompha had already boarded the flight.
“He was arrested along with his properties and handed over to the EFCC,” he said.
Musa told the court that over N30 billion was discovered in Mompha’s Fidelity Bank account and that he was into the bureau de change business, a representation he knew to be false.
He added that the commission concluded investigation on offences bordering on money laundering, operating BDC without a licence, in which Mompha was still standing trial before Justice Emma of Federal High Court, Ikoyi.
“The combination of the FBI and an investigative report on Mompha’s iPhone, revealed that Mompha’s iPhone was used to send account details to a United Arab Emirates telephone number he used to search for swift codes of a bank.
“During the course of his arrest, all the properties recovered were registered with exhibits keeper in the EFCC office and most of the properties were released to him on bond, except his I-phone 8 that was still with the commission.
“All the items are proceeds of crime because when he was given assets declaration form to declared his assets, he did not include those items,” the witness said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the prosecution tendered two documents, the statement of first defendant and asset declaration which was admitted into evidence and labeled exhibit p5 and p6.
Justice Mojisola Dada, however, adjourned the case until Oct.8 for continuation of trial.
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