Two armed robbery suspects fell into the hands of policemen from Ogun State Command in the early hours of Saturday, February 27, 2021, when their gang was allegedly set to begin robbery operation at Sagamu interchange area of Lagos-Ibadan Highway.
Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, in a statement on Sunday, February 28, gave the names of the two suspects as Solomon Aghofure, a 30-year-old indigene of Delta State, and Emmanuel Mathew, 37, an indigene of Abia State.
Oyeyemi said that the suspects were arrested when a police team from Sagamu Division was on routine patrol of the highway at about 1:30 am.
According to him, the suspects and their gang members had positioned themselves at the interchange, ready to pounce on commuters plying the road and attack them.
He stated further that the armed robbery gang started shooting at the passing patrol team, led by their Divisional Police Officer, CSP Okiki Agunbiade.
The PPRO added: “The team engaged them (robbers) in a shootout, at the end of which one of the gang members sustained gunshot injuries and was subsequently apprehended.
“Other members of the gang escaped into the bush, abandoning their operational vehicle. The bush was thoroughly combed, from where the other suspect was also arrested.”
He disclosed further that a police corporal attached to the team also sustained gunshot injuries on his leg and was rushed to hospital for treatment.
Thenewsbearer learnt that during interrogation by the police, the suspects revealed that the gang members were five in number, giving the others’ names as Uche a.k.a. Two Million, Arinze and Uzor.
They also said that the three gang members who escaped were ex-convicts who had served various jail terms in Okitipupa, Ondo State, and Sagamu in the state where they were apprehended.
They added that it was after their prison terms that they formed the gang and recruited them.
The state Commissioner of Police, Edward Awolowo Ajogun, in his response to the apprehension of the suspects, praised the gallantry performance of his men.
He ordered the immediate transfer of the suspects to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for discreet investigation.
Ajogun directed that the command’s operatives should hunt for the gang members who escaped, and bring them to justice.
The police commissioner also appealed to members of the public, especially hospitals, to notify the police of anyone seen with gunshot injury in their vicinity.
