2 informants, 6 others arrested over robbery

Eight men the police in Lagos State alleged to be members of an armed robbery gang terrorising residents of the Ajah area of the state are in the net of the Federal Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) attached to the Lagos State police command, Ikeja.

Two of the suspects, Nathaniel Emmanuel, 22, and Mahmud Usman, 36, claimed to be informants to the police.

The gang had allegedly raided Ajah in the early hours of yesterday in a car and two motorcycles. Three of them were said to have scaled the fence of one a storey-building to open the gate for others. They then proceeded on a flat-to-flat operation where they allegedly dispossessed occupants of cash and other valuables estimated at over N15 million.

But a team of FSARS contacted by some of the residents arrived at the scene before the robbers could escape. On sighting the operatives, four of the suspects escaped in their vehicle, while two others fled into the dark. But the two others, whose identities were given as Joseph Paul Aji and Ekpemandu Kingsley, were arrested and a motorcycle, a Sinoki Supra with plate number KJA 342 QH, recovered from them.

The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State police command, Edgal Imohimi, who confirmed the arrest while parading the suspects, disclosed that all the stolen items were recovered from them.

Aji and Kingsley later led detectives to their hideout where the other six men were arrested.

One of them, Nathaniel Emmanuel, told journalists, “I am an informant to the police and some criminals know that. I joined this gang after some friends met me and said they had no money. I told them I could link them up with some people they will work with to get money.

“We decided to go to an apartment at the Royal Garden estate because the occupant had travelled. We went in through the window and collected gold wrist watches, a plasma TV and other properties. We gave some of the items to Mahmud Usman, who is also a police informant, for him to keep mum.”

Usman, who agreed he was an informant to policemen at Ajah, admitted he collected a plasma television from the gang. He said, “These particular gang members are wicked. They killed one of my friends who was an informant. I did not go for the operation with them. They only gave me one plasma TV. The gang threatened to kill me if I exposed them. I regret collecting the television.”