SUSPECTS

How policemen smashed Lagos robbery gang with car tracker.

A Lagos-based lawyer, Barrister Gbemiga Ojo, has revealed the awful circumstances in which his car was seized by two armed men.
He said he had parked the car at the roadside and was waiting for a friend when the two armed men arrived on a motorcycle and pointed a gun at him.
They ordered to hand his car key over to them and lie on the road face down, after which they zoomed off with the car.
Narrating his ordeal further, he said, "Around 8 pm on Sunday May 1, 2011, I was in my car which I had parked at the roadside at Oduduwa Crescent, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos, waiting for a friend.
At a point, I noticed a strange movement beside my car. I alighted from the car to see what was going on. But before I knew it, two guns were pointed at me through the window. The two men ordered me to come down and hand over my car key to them or they would shoot at me.
"Before I came out of the car, I overheard one of them telling the other that he would pay N100. That gave me the wrong impression that he wanted to pay the okada (motorcycle) rider for bringing him to the spot.
That kind of disorganised my thought as I kept wondering what their mission could be. But by the time they pointed guns at me, I realised that I was face to face with armed car snatchers.
"They ordered me to lie down and requested for my car key and handsets (mobile phones). Of course, I complied. The moment they got them, they drove off with my car.
"There was nothing I could do but to thank God that they did not fire at me, because they were wielding the guns like wild beasts.
When I recovered from the shock, I headed for a nearby call centre and put a call through to my brother to track the car, because the tracking device in my car was programmed on his phone too.
"I also trekked to the Police Central Radio Room in Oduduwa, Ikeja, where the policemen on duty announced that my car had been snatched.
"A few minutes later, the officer in charge of Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Mr. Abba Kyari, a Superintendent of Police, called me from the Radio Room and I narrated to him how the whole thing happened and where it happened.
"The policemen swung into action and laid an ambush for the hoodlums. They recovered the car whose number plate had been removed by the hoodlums. Fortunately, the registration number is boldly printed on different parts of blue Honda Accord car with registration number KZ 503 EKY."
Asked whether it was the first time he would come face to face with men of the underworld, he said: "I had my first experience with them eight years ago. But this second one was totally different. I went through trauma and I am still going through it.
"I am 30 years old. I know what a dangerous weapon is. It is capable of causing grievous bodily harm and even death. And given my training as a lawyer, it is only reasonable to comply with instructions when you are under duress, especially one initiated with a weapon that is capable of causing grievous harm.
"I give kudos to the officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force in Lagos for recovering my car, because I am impressed with the speed at which the recovery was made. I spoke personally with the officer in charge of SARS, SP Abba Kyari, who personally called me on the phone so that I could brief him with the details of the incident, the location and movement of the car, to enable them to perform their task.
"The Inspector General of Police, Hafiz Ringim; the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Suleiman Abba and his officers and men are worthy of commendation. I can see the pyramid of responsibility that was carried out for detail. From the Radio Room at Oduduwa Street, GRA, Ikeja through the SARS office in Ikeja and all the exit points in Lagos, communication was made within 10 minutes. So I really commend them.
"If they continue to work like this, the public will no longer be complaining and they will see police as truly their friends, because they are capable of protecting people’s lives and property. I now respect every police officer wearing the black and the blue uniforms."
Asked how the suspected car snatchers were arrested, the leader of SARS, who led the operation, SP Abba Kyari, said he was in constant touch with the victim, whose car had a tracking device.
He said: "He (victim) told us their escape route from Oshodi to Mile 2. Then they sped off to Badagry Road, according to the tracking signal we were receiving. They later branched and headed for Iba estate. The trackers called me and told me that we are O.61 kilometre away from where the vehicle was parked in Iba Estate.
"Having arrested some robbers in that estate about three months earlier, we knew that that was their destination. We then circled the spot in Iba estate, as signaled by the tracking device.
"When we sighted them with the key and they were about to start the vehicle, we thought they had probably got a buyer, hence we remained patient even though we had waited for eight hours.
"They entered the car and wanted to start it. We contacted our tracking point and told them not to allow them (car snatchers) to move the car. During their fruitless effort to start the car, they saw two of my men advancing and jumped out of the car.
"They started firing sporadically to scare my men. I then advanced with the remaining members of my team and responded fire for fire. In their bid to escape, we gunned three of them down and one escaped.
"We recovered from them two short guns and three expended ammunition."