Two fake military officials with a soldier and a naval rating identified as Patrick Okoh from Isele Ukwu, Delta and Aniekan Emmanuel from Uyo, Akwa Ibom were among the five suspected truck robbers arrested by the Lagos state police command on Monday, July 21, 2014 near Sango Ota, Ogun State.
The other members of the robbery gang are Alex Ugbuagu, Evans Boniface, and Izuchukwu Udeagwu. They were arrested while heading for one of their buyer’s place in town.
According to police reports, the gang which specialised in robbing trucks, had carried out five successful operations in different parts of the state.
The first operation involved the robbing of a truck loaded with 33,000 litres of petrol along Anthony Village at gunpoint which was later sold for N1.5 million to a filling station in Ikorodu, Lagos.while the second was a truck along the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway.
The vehicles used by the robbers, and a fake military uniform were recovered from the gang.
The 48-year-old fake soldier during interrogation said he had taken out the gang on two robbery occasions.
He said, “I was working as a clearing agent in Apapa, Lagos. Around March this year, I met one Alex who was a driver with a logistics company and who had a Hilux van. Then, we planned on how we could use his van, and a military uniform to rob. I learnt he had gone on three occasions previously, but I didn’t participate in those ones.
“When I met Alex, I also invited Emmanuel, who I knew had a navy uniform. During operation, we would stand on the expressway in the night and flagged down any truck we intended to rob. The truck drivers submitted to us, thinking we were security operatives. That was how we diverted their trucks.”
The 32-year-old fake navy official also revealed he used the navy uniform for robbery as a result of poverty.
He said, “I finished from the Navy Merchant School. I also attended the School of Oceanography, Victoria Island, but I did not get a job with the Federal Government. When there was no job, I started private security jobs.
“It was Okoh who invited me. I knew him as a resident in my area in Meiran, Lagos. He simply told me there was a business I could make money from. That was how we started. Whenever any truck came, my own work was to flag them down. I would harass the drivers with questions like, ‘Why are you driving like that? Is that how to move?’ Then from there, we diverted their trucks and robbed them.”
The gang was arrested following a tip off from a reliable source gathered that the former commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, directed the Commander, Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SP Abba Kyari, to go after the suspected robbers.
