A suspected armed robber, Sodiq Yahaya, has been arrested after he and his accomplices opened fire on policemen.
The suspect was apprehended during a robbery operation at a students’ hostel in Ipara, Remo North Local Government Area of Ogun State.
The Ogun State Police Command said the cops had stormed the area on Thursday, following a distress call received by the DPO of Isara divisional headquarters.
The DPO of Isara division, CSP Shobiyi Oluwatoshin, had got information that about six suspected armed robbers invaded the hostel situated in Ipara Remo.
Acting on the distress call, the DPO, CSP Oluwatoshin, was said to have moblised policemen, in conjunction with local vigilantes to the scene.
“On sighting the policemen, the hoodlums opened fire on them and the policemen retaliated. At the end of the encounter, the robbers, who sustained varying degrees of gunshot injuries, took to their heels and escaped to the bush,” the Ogun State police spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said on Saturday.
According to Oyeyemi, the police officers later found Sodiq Yahaya lying down with gunshot injuries in the bush, and he was promptly arrested.
Oyeyemi disclosed that the suspect had “given useful information to the police concerning their past robbery operations in and around Sagamu area.”
He added that the suspect confessed that his gang always targets students’ hostels for robbery operations, saying that was “because students, especially females are easy to rob.”
Meanwhile, the Ogun Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, has directed the transfer of the suspect to the SCIID for discreet investigation.
Bankole, while ordering a manhunt for the fleeing members of the gang, appealed to the public, especially hospitals and traditional healers, to notify the police if anyone with gunshot injury is seen in their area.
