Lagos State Police Command has arrested members of a gang that
allegedly robbed Murtala Muhammed International Airport on March 13,
2013.
The police on Tuesday said the gang was also behind another operation at the same airport in 2012.
One of the suspects, Atoba Adeniyi, who confessed to being part of
the two operations, however, said his share was only N45.5m –N45m in
the first and N500,000 in the second.
Adeniyi spoke while being paraded alongside six others involved in
the robberies at the headquarters of the state command in Ikeja.
The suspects had stormed the airport on March 13 and carted away
millions of naira and foreign currencies after killing two police
inspectors.
It was learnt that the robbers, Ibikunle John, Atoba Adeniyi,
Ibrahim Abdullahi, Kazeem Aderibigbe, Saheed Adekunle, Christian Joshua
and Saheed Okunola, stole over $2.5m (N400m) in the 2012 robbery.
Adeniyi, who claimed he only drove those that carried out the recent
robbery at the Airport, explained that he had a transport company and
other businesses.
He said, “I was involved in the airport robbery in 2012. I am not
naturally an armed robber. I used to be a truck driver in Bayelsa State
and they (the other robbers) told me they needed my services. It was
later I discovered that they wanted to stage a robbery. After the
robbery, I was paid N45m.
“I went back to Ibadan in Oyo State, where I built a duplex and
started a transport company. I cut all ties with the robbers and even
changed my telephone line but they found me and told me that I must
come for one last operation. After the second operation that two
policemen were killed, I was given N500, 000 because things did not go
as planned.”
John, who claimed to be a pastor, said he only prayed for the
suspects and gave them spiritual items to aid them in their operations. He said he only met the suspects in February and had tried to
dissociate himself from them but they threatened to kill him if he did
not play along.
The suspect said, “I met them through a friend, Paul, who brought
them for prayers at my church, the Way of Joy in Egbe, Lagos. Later,
they confessed that they were robbers and threatened to kill me if I
exposed them. I made them to swear an oath of secrecy and also gave
them some spiritual backing.
“I never followed them to any robbery because I still have a congregation that needs me.”
Abdullahi, who is a labourer at the airport, said he was not an active member of the gang but only an informant.
Abdullahi, an indigene of Plateau State, said he usually helped people to carry luggage at the airport.
He said, “I never followed them to any operation. I only told them
how they could steal money from some people at the airport that carry
large amounts of cash. After the robbery in 2012, they paid me N1.5m
for my cooperation. “I collected it because the amount of money I was making from
pushing around trolleys was too little. Imagine, I was earning between
N700 and N1000 per day. It was just too little.”
The Commissioner of Police for the state police command, Umar Manko,
said the suspects had been linked to a series of robberies in the
South-West.
Manko said three vehicles and some rounds of ammunition were recovered from them.
He said, “During last month’s robbery, two policemen were killed.
However, one of the robbers, later identified as Teslim Okunola, was
also killed. From the corpse, we were able to gather information which
led to the arrest of the other suspects.
“We recovered from them, five AK-47 rifles, four dynamites, 64 AK 47
magazines fully loaded, two local pistols, two masks and many charms.”