Detectives attached to the Zonal Intervention Squad (ZIS), Zone 2
Police Command, Onikan, Lagos State, have foiled a N50 million bank
robbery after one of them went undercover as a politician.
Suspects arrested in connection with the foiled bank robbery are
Taofeek Ganiu, Sunday Adegbite, Sunday Ademuyiwa, Rufus Olasunkanmi,
Alabi Kazeem, Alabi Tunde and Samuel Morakinyo.
A female member, identified simply as Ganiyat, who is believed to be
the person that keeps guns for the suspects, is said to be at large.
According to the Zone 2 Police Public Relations Officer (ZPPRO),
Dolapo Badmos, three suspects among the lot were first arrested, while
heading to the Micro-Finance bank to carry out the operation. The three
were later used as bait to catch other members of the gang. Badmos said
the suspects used to operate as two different gangs, but were actually
one gang.
While one operates in Ile-Ife, Osun State, the other operates in Ogun
State. Items recovered from them are one AK 47 rifle, a doublebarrelled
gun and ammunition.
He said:
“They were arrested on
the day they planned to carry out the bank robbery. They confessed to
have another gang operating at Alagbado area of Ogun State, while they
operated at Ile-Ife. One of our men posed as a honourable in Ogun State,
infiltrated the gang and foiled the bank robbery.Two of our policemen infiltrated the gang with one posing as
honourable, the other as PA to the honourable. The honourable said that
he needed a gun to protect himself for the forthcoming election; the
gang members agreed to provide it.”
One of the suspects, Adegbite said:
“We were five people that went for the micro-finance bank robbery.
We were arrested on our way to rob a micro-finance bank. It was
Taofeek that brought information about the robbery to us. He told us
that we would be able to snatch N50 million from the bank. It was
supposed to happen as the bank officials were driving into the bank with
the money.”
Adegbite disclosed that he had once been arrested for car stealing and was imprisoned.
He said:
I just returned from
prison and went to attempt this foiled bank robbery. “It’s not up to two
months that I came back from prison. I attempted to steal a car from
where it was parked at Ibadan. We were four that went for that car
stealing operation, but I was the only person arrested, others escaped.
People shouted thieves, we started running and they pursued us.”
Narrating his own side of the story,
Another suspect, Ganiu added:
“It was a guy called Muri that brought the information about the robbery.
He contacted me and I contacted others. Muri was introduced to me by a
friend. The robbery was supposed to take place on June 24, but police
arrested us that day. We didn’t know that Muri was police spy. He told
us that there is a lot of money at the micro-finance bank.He said we should go and collect it.”
He added that he had earlier been imprisoned for stealing a car. He
explained that first sojourn into prison occurred after he moved a
Highlander ‘Jeep’ from where it was parked. He was arrested while
attempting to sell it.
He said:
“I spent three years
in prison. I joined to rob the bank because I needed money. I was a
lotto agent before I went to prison. We went for the bank robbery with
two guns. The owner of the gun is Taiye, he is dead. I don’t know where
he got the guns from.We collected the guns from Taiye’s wife, Ganiyat. It’s Adegbite that knows Ganiyat and her late husband.”
Adegbite takes over the narration:
“Yes, I know Ganiyat
through her husband, Taiye. It’s only the AK47 rifle that belongs to
Taiye. When he died, Ganiyat hid it. After I returned from prison, she
gave it to me. I didn’t tell her I wanted to use it for bank robbery. I
told her to sell it to me. We agreed on N300,000. The idea was to pay
her after the robbery. But it didn’t work out.”
