Robbery suspect, ‘black Jesus,’ shot in Ado-Ekiti

Police in Ekiti State have shot a 17-year old robbery suspect, Raji Babatunde (alias black Jesus) during a robbery incident in Ado-Ekiti.

The Command’s Police Public Relations Officer, Victor Babayemi, who paraded the suspects before newsmen said the suspect was arrested by the command’s Swift Response Squad.

Babatunde who said the timely intervention of the men of SRS prevented the victims from being killed by the gang, recalled that his men had to demobilize the suspect by shooting at his leg when they fled the scene upon noticing police presence in the area.

Also paraded was a 40-year old pastor of a church based in Ikere Ekiti in the state, Taiwo Afolabi, and four other members of a syndicate arrested allegedly for car snatching and robbery.

According to him, Afolabi and his gang were arrested along Igbaraodo-Ogotun Road, when they could not give satisfactory accounts   of themselves.

Babayemi, said investigation by Special Anti-robbery Squad showed that the gang ran a car-snatching syndicate and that the police had recovered a Green Toyota Camry marked Lagos ET 241 AAA, from them.

Other cars seized from syndicate, according to Babayemi include: a brown-coloured Toyota Camry, with registration number Lagos KSF 634 AX, Nissan Cabster registration number Lagos EKY 973 XH and another Nissan Cabster with registration number Lagos FST 621 XM.

Babayemi said the leaders of the group, Wasiu Sola and Abdukareem Ganiyu, were based in Ibadan and specialized in robbery and snatching of cars, which are then passed to a dealer in Ado Ekiti to market.

Afolabi told newsmen that he knew the leaders of the syndicate, Wasiu and Abdukareem in Ibadan and had since been receiving cars from them, and giving to one Ajilumo Emmanuel, a dealer, to sell.

Afolabi said, “I never asked them since they have been bringing cars to me to sell, whether the cars were stolen goods or not. But the last one they brought that I could not sell in time put me in this trouble because the engine was faulty and we could not dispose it as quick as possible”.

The teen-robber, Babatunde and his gang were said to have stormed a house at Okesa Area of Ado Ekiti metropolis, breaking the door with the aid of a big stone and inflicting machete cuts on the occupants.

Another notorious armed robber, Tope Adedayo (aka SeeWar) was also paraded by the police alongside two others, Dele Olalusi and Olabanji Tolulope for allegedly threatening some Igbo traders operating in Atikankan Area of Ado Ekiti, and extorting huge sums of money from them.

DailyIndependent