The Ondo State Command of the Nigeria Police Force on Thursday paraded five robbery suspects at the force headquarters in Akure, the state capital.
One of the suspects whose identity is revealed as Mohammed Sule was apprehended while attempting to rob a house alone in Akure.
Confessing his crimes, Sule told the police operatives that his journey into robbery started less than a month ago after he was sent out of a Mosque in Akure.
The 23-year-old mechanic confessed that he dived into crime to get some capital to start a business. The Kogi State indigene who was arrested at Shasha area of Akure metropolis, explained further that he used to raid the residence of his victims alone, with a cutlass and a fake gun.
He said he got to Akure last month from Kogi State and could not locate his sister who he had planned to stay with.
“When I could not get anywhere to stay, I decide to go to Ogbese. When I got there, I was sleeping there inside the mosque. I was later pursued from the mosque,” Sule said.
He added: “After I was chased from the mosque, I went to Shasha. When I was finding it difficult to survive, I started stealing.
“The very day I was caught, I had planned to raise money for a business. I went to two houses and at one of them, I was attacked by a man in the house when he noticed that I was the only one. That was how I was arrested.”
In the development, the police command also arrested four suspected robbers at two different locations in the state capital.
Three of the robbers, Victor Bright, 21, AbdulRahim Mohammed, 22 and Friday Emmanuel, 27 were nabbed in the Owo council area of the state.
They were said to have snatched a boxer motorcycle and mobile phone before they met their waterloo. The leader of the gang, Bright confessed that the robbery was their first operation.
Confessing their crimes, Bright said that the motorcycle and the phone were sold for N130,000.
He said: “I was arrested at Owo three weeks ago for snatching a boxer motorcycle. Last week Friday, we were transferred to SCID.
“After I and my friends stole the bike from a commercial motorcyclist who is a Hausa man, we sold it to one man at Elegbeka. We also sold the phone we stole from the okada man to the same person.
“I told the okada man to carry me from Ikare junction to another location in Owo.
“On getting to an uncompleted building, I put a rope on his neck. When he was trying to struggle, the three others came out from where they were hiding.
“We overpowered him and collected the bike but we did not kill him.
“The phone was tracked to the person we sold it to and that was how we were arrested. Four of us were involved in the robbery but the fourth person ran away when we were arrested.
“We sold the bike and the phone for N130,000. The four of us shared the money. We have finished spending the money. I learned to tailor but at times I do engage in a bricklaying job. That was my first time engaging in a robbery operation.”
The spokesperson for the state police command, Funmi Odunlami, said that the suspect will be charged to court after the completion of the investigation.
