Vigilant men of the Nigeria Police in Lagos arrested two church robbers at 5am on April 5, 2013 and other members of the gang which includes a Church member.
According to Vanguard Newspapers:
The Robbers had allegedly broken into the headquarters of the Kingdom Zone of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Ifelodun Street, Ijegun – Ikotun in the early hours of April 5, 2013. They entered the church auditorium, broke the iron cage inside which the musical instruments were secured and removed them. Not done yet, they broke into the church offices and ransacked them, apparently looking for cash and valuables. Two of the Robbers – Theophilus and Folorunso- allegedly chartered a tricycle to convey their loot and had successfully escaped from the area. The suspects were said to be transferring the musical instruments from the tricycle into another one at Ikotun roundabout, some five kilometers from scene of robbery – around 5 a.m. – when a police patrol team noted their suspicious movements and accosted them.
A police source said they told the patrol team they were musicians coming from a night engagement. Not convinced, the police team, led by one Inspector Ahmed, reportedly, asked the suspects to take them to the venue of the engagement to confirm their story. Then, on close scrutiny of the musical instruments, the policemen found the name of the church engraved on them.
The game was up. Folorunso allegedly tried to bolt away. He knocked down one of the policemen in the process. But as he dashed across the road, an oncoming tricycle knocked him down, instantly demobilising him. Both suspects – Theophilus and Folorunso – were arrested and taken to the scene of robbery. They allegedly confessed to the crime and told the police that they had another colleague working with them.
The suspects also allegedly named a marketer at Oshodi who had been helping them to sell their loot. The two suspects were held at Ikotun Divisional Police Station. Some officers at the station gave the credit for the arrest to the DPO, CSP Austines Akika, who, according to them, insists on ridding the area of criminal elements..
Items allegedly recovered from the suspects were the church musical instruments, a saw, two iron bars, a master key and a padlock. Theophilus an Folorunso were later taken to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja where further investigations yielded the arrest of the third suspect, Olusola. Olusola is said to be an ‘insider’ in the Ijegun church who facilitated the robbery.
The alleged marketer to the suspects was said to be on the run. Theophilus told Sunday Vanguard that he was not resident in Lagos, and that he came in from Abeokuta where he claimed to be a teacher. He claimed to be a university graduate.
According to the suspect, he is married with a child. Indeed, the police took him to a high profile hotel where he claimed to be lodging in Ikotun area to corroborate his statement, and he was found to be paying N6,000 per night there. Asked if he did not fear God as to go to a church to rob, Theophilus, a Christian, said he feared God, but that, that fear paled into insignificance when the survival of his family was at stake.
The salary he earned from his teaching job in a school in Abeokuta, according to him, was too meagre to sustain the family. Folorunso was not forthcoming on his means of livelihood. Sources close to Lagos SARS told Sunday Vanguard that all the three suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigations into the case were completed.
Detectives were also on the trail of the fourth suspect on the run. The Ijegun church sources spoke on the two previous occasions robbers broke into the place of worship. The first time, according to them, the robbers made away with musical instruments, among other items, which were never recovered.
The second time, the robbers carted away gift items earmarked for the Bible College graduands whose graduation was scheduled to hold in the church. “There is the hand of God in the arrest of the suspects who are now alleged to have carried out serial robbery attacks on the church.
Don’t forget that they had successfully escaped from the scene of crime before they were apprehended at Ikotun, some five kilometers away. The arrest also shows that no matter the misgiving about the police on their effectiveness, they sometimes work”, a member of the church said.
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