Lagos police arrested 4 robbery suspects at the Alaba International Market, Ojo, Lagos, with the men saying they came not to steal but just to collect their dues.
According to Punch, those detained are Onyenge Osanie, Azuka Eboh, Ezelonwu Michael and Afolabi Shakiru. The suspects were allegedly arrested December 20 while they were robbing the traders at the market.
The gang led by one Friday used locally made guns for the operations. The suspects were mainly involved in selling stolen smartphones and iPads.
Osanie, 35, disclosed that they had robbed only those who refused to “settle” them and who had “offended” the gang.
“We usually work with phone dealers in the market who specialise in selling stolen phones. When we steal, they sell, and they then settle us. But later on, some of them defaulted, and we attacked their shops. It was not as if we robbed them, we only came to ask for our money“.
Osanie, the father of 3, narrated that on the day of the arrest they had taken “only 10 phones” before the police nabbed them.
“I had initially escaped, but two gang members who were caught at the scene later brought the police to arrest me.”
Another suspect, Eboh, 27, said he had to join the gang because of being unemployed, which made life of his family a torture.
Michael, aged 22, confessed to having joined the gang for 3 operations:
“I was working as a truck driver before I met them. I had gone out with the gang on three occasions to rob in the market. We only took advantage of the commotion of the market to rob them. It was not deliberate.”
The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, confirmed the incident saying that the investigation was ongoing.
