The police, yesterday, paraded three persons, said to have confessed to the killing of Adeniyi Sanni, an aide to the Senator representing Ogun West, Solomon Adeola, on August 5.
The deceased was allegedly stopped at a checkpoint around Ojodu-Berger area, where he was questioned about his vehicle’s documents.
Sanni, who was initially communicating with his wife, when he was stopped, suddenly went incommunicado, heightening fears that something unpleasant had happened to him.
His corpse was later found around Toyota Bus Stop, along Oshodi-Apapa expressway.
Arrested in connection with the crime are Fred Okunnu, Lucky Michael, and Adedigba Segun.
Okunnu was arrested for drug-related crime between 2010 and 2015, sentenced and released after serving his jail term. He, however, became hardened, and went back to his life of crime. In 2021, he was arrested for armed robbery.
Michael, who presented himself as a military man, was in Kirikiri between 2019 and 2022, and was released when a non-governmental organisation intervened, while Segun was arrested in 2017 for stealing, and later released.
Between 2021 and 2023, he was involved in several robbery cases and detained at Kirikiri.
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Idowu Owohunwa, who paraded the suspects, said they were arrested following weeklong painstaking, diligent and discreet intelligence and investigative actions.
Items recovered from the suspects are one Brownie pistol, with three rounds of live ammunitions; one Beretta pistol, with three rounds of live ammunition; one locally made, cut-to-size pistol with six live cartridges, six expended cartridges, military gear (military camouflage vest, jungle hat, holster, jungle boots), and one red Honda CRV, with registration number EKY 276 JD, also hijacked from an unknown victim.
A total of three firearms, six live cartridges, six expended ammunition, six live ammunition, and military gear recovered from the suspects were also displayed.
Investigation revealed that the gang specialises in robbing motorists of their unregistered vehicles. The gang has been successful in five previous operations.
Their modus operandi include stationing one gang member some metres from Berger bus stop to spot unregistered vehicles, who would, in turn call his gang members positioned somewhere around the area, to inform them of the approaching vehicle.
“Once they stop their victim, they request for the vehicle’s custom papers, and after citing the papers, they insist on taking their victim to their base. In the case of Sanni, once the men entered the vehicle, it dawned on him that they were robbers. He called out for help, which made the robbers shot him thrice, and further stabbed him. They dropped his corpse by the roadside and drove to Kuto, Abeokuta, where they cleaned up the blood stains in the rear seats of the vehicle, and proceeded, same night to the border town of Chikunda, in Kwara State, where the receiver took delivery of the car,” the CP stated.
The police chief said that the suspects adopted the use of military fatigue to beat checkpoints, as further investigations showed that the kingpin has other cells operating across the country.
Asked about the whereabouts of Alhaji, a Nigerian based in Benin Republic, the CP said: “We have activated our network to break into the trans-border component of this type. I can assure that in due course, the so-called Alhaji would be brought to justice.
