Three suspected armed robbers met their Waterloo in Osogbo,
Osun State, as they died after sustaining bullet wounds during
a shootout with the operatives of Special-Anti Robbery Squad
(SARS) in the early hours of Friday.
Saturday Tribune gathered that the suspects, who came in an
unregistered Lexus car for a robbery operation, went to Oke
Baale area of Osogbo, opposite Osun State Broadcasting
Corporation (OSBC), to attack the residents at about 2.00 a.m.
Some of the residents, it was learnt, sent a distress call to the
officer in charge of SARS in Osun State Police Command, DSP
Adekunle Omoyele, and he was said to have led a team of
operatives to the scene immediately.
Saturday Tribune further gathered that on getting to the scene,
the policemen learnt that the armed robbers had robbed one
Alhaja Ganiyat Kolapo of her personal belongings while the
hoodlums also went away with her Toyota Camry car with
registration number LND 847 AJ.
Omoyele and his team reportedly chased the armed robbers
towards Ibokun road. The robbers reportedly abandoned the
Toyota Camry and fled into the bush.
Meanwhile, the SARS men were said to have started combing a
nearby bush when they noticed an oncoming bus followed by a
car which model was later discovered to be Lexus.
A police source who craved anonymity told Saturday Tribune
that as SARS operatives waved the bus driver to a stop, the
driver of the Lexus car made an attempt to overtake the bus
and fired sporadically at the police in order to escape.
Undeterred, the policemen pursued the hoodlums towards
Ibokun road and got close to them at a spot close to Egbeda
Village where the hoodlums reportedly stopped and engaged
the SARS operatives in a gun battle, as a result of which three
of them sustained bullet wounds and died.
Saturday Tribune learnt that the Toyota Camry belonging to
their victim and the unregistered Lexus for the robbery were
recovered by the police. One of them was said to have escaped
with bullet wounds and arms used by the robbers.
When the Lexus was searched, it was gathered that a laptop,
digger, knife, charms, assorted phones, three ATM cards, one
cut-to-size double barrel gun, seven live cartridges, five
expended cartridge shells, and some rough naira notes totaling
about N36,000, as well as the driver’s licence belonging to their
victim were recovered. The victim was said to have identified
the corpses as those of the hoodlums who came to rob her.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in Osun
State Police Command, DSP Folasade Odoro, confirmed the
incident, saying that the corpses had been deposited at the
State Hospital Osogbo mortuary for autopsy. She added that
efforts were on to get the fleeing hoodlums.
One of the victims, Alhaja Kolapo, told Saturday Tribune that
two of the hoodlums gained entry into her apartment after
cutting the net and burglar proof on one of the windows. “One
of them entered and went to the kitchen door to open it for the
second robber.
“They did not bother to switch on the light as they made use of
a torch light with strong halogen bulb which they brought.
They ransacked the house and picked all they wanted. They
saw the key of the Camry and took it also,” she narrated.
Another victim, Kareem Adebayo, said the armed robbers also
visited him and his younger brother before going to Kolapo’s
house. He said they collected the cash found with him and tied
him with a rope at the backyard.
“They came into my house through the window which burglar
proof was cut. They demanded for money and I gave them
N40,000. They saw my car key, took it and demanded for my
ATM card. They said they would take me to an ATM to withdraw
the N47,000 they saw as my account balance. I told them the
ATM card was in the car.
“They were searching the car for the ATM card when they found
the N150,000 I kept there. They started beating me, saying that
I lied that I didn’t have money. One of them also wanted to rape
my wife and when she told him that she was pregnant, he still
wanted to go ahead and had already worn his shirt inside out.
“She was saved because by then, my brother had been able to
free himself and he jumped over the fence to alert neighbours.
When the neighbours were coming, the hoodlums lay flat on
the ground, and as one of the neighbours, one Owolabi
Mohammed, got to where they lay, one of the armed robbers
stood and hit his head with a digger, resulting in a deep gash.
That was how they ran away with my money and my car key,”
Adebayo also said.
The two victims praised the efforts of the SARS in responding
promptly. Mr Adebayo said he was already on his way to a
network service provider to retrieve his line when he received
information that he should come to SARS to check some of the
items found with the dead hoodlums and identify them.
Alhaja Kolapo also told Saturday Tribune that “I am highly
impressed with the immediate response of the police. I am
happy that they recovered the items taken from me and got my
tormentors
