20-year-old Morgan Udama, a member of a 4-man robbery gang arrested yesterday August 4th by police officers attached to Okota Isolo Police Station in Lagos, while confessing, said he was recruited into criminal life by his own older brother, Oche, who is the leader of the robbery gang.
Morgan, a native of Oju in Benue State said he came into Lagos last week Monday July 28th to live with his brother who had promised him a better job which unknown to him was armed robbery
“I finished Senior Secondary School 3 (SSS3) in 2010 at Otupo, after which I was riding commercial motorcycle (Okada) before my brother, Oche, phoned me to come to Lagos, pledging that he would find me a better work that would fetch me enough saving for my university education. He also told me he was living in a three-bedroom flat, unknown to me that the one-room apartment he inhabited with his elder brother belonged to the latter. When I arrived last Monday, he asked me to follow him to take up an employment. When we got there, he snatched a woman’s car with pistol. I was surprised. When I asked him if robbery was the work he found for me, he said “yes,” assuring that very soon, I would be counting millions of naira. The mistake I made was that I still entered the snatched car. I should have left them because I was standing at a very good distance. But I feared that people at the scene might later lynch me if I did not follow them.”
Morgan and the other gang members – Suleiman Abdullahi, 23, from Bida, Niger State; Samson Oyebanji, 23, from Oro in Kwara State and John Oche, 26, his brother, were arrested following a tip off.
According to the police, the gang had on Saturday night August 2nd snatched a Honda car belonging to one woman at Gbagada General Hospital Junction, Gbagada, Lagos and afterwards drove the car to an estate in Okota Isolo area.
The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Okota Isolo Police Station, CSP Adamu Ibrahim got wind of their presence in his territory and he immediately mobilized his men to trace them. On sighting the police men, the robbers sped off towards the Ire-Akari Estate, parked the car and took to their heels.
They were all eventually arrested at different locations in and outside the estate.
Oche, the brother to Morgan and a commercial driver who runs the Oshodi-Ajah route said his brother was lying, saying Morgan was a big criminal who ran to Lagos after committing a crime in Otukpo Benue state.
“My role was to drive the snatched car out of the robbery scene. My brother (Morgan) is a big liar. I did not invite him to Lagos. He committed a serious offence in Otrupo and ran to Lagos,” he said.
Suleiman one of the robbers said Oche was the owner of the pistol used in the operation, adding: “We did not shoot the woman; we just collected her Honda car.” he said
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