I don’t pray my child becomes an armed robber -Arrested robbery kingpin

IT was great rejoicing among operatives of the Special Anti- Robbery Squad (SARS), Ibadan under Oyo State Police Command when a notorious armed robber who had been on the run for months, Abiodun Adelabu was arrested at Beyerunka area of the city recently.
Adelabu, popularly called Abbey, was the head of the gang put in place by another robbery baron, known as Biggie or Marshall. Biggie, who receives snatched vehicles from his gang, reportedly owned auto shops in
Ibadan, Abuja and other places before he was dislodged from Ibadan and Abuja when he knew that the police were after him.
While Abbey and his gang members reigned in Ibadan city, they were a big headache to the state police command with the way they were snatching vehicles on a daily basis. One of their victims, a lawmaker with the Oyo State House of Assembly, was shot when he was attacked, to the extent that his entrails came out of his stomach. He was left for the dead and was said to have gone through surgeries to join his intestines together. Till today, the man still bears the scars of the gunshot injury.
Briefing journalists while parading some suspects on Tuesday, September 24, the state’s Police public Relations Officer, Olabisi Okuwobi-Ilobanafor said that the SARS had set a dragnet for Abbey until they got information that he was sighted at Beyerunka area. On sighting the police, Abbey reportedly engaged the police in a shoot-out in order to make a way of escape for himself. However, he was shot on the legs to subdue him and was subsequently arrested.
Among other exploits of the gang was the robbery operation they carried out on December 9, 2012 at Ring Road area where they dispossessed one of the editors of Macmillan Publishers of her Toyota Avensis car.
One of the gang members, Victor Okafor, who specialized in removing trackers from vehicles, and  who had already lodged in a hotel in Ibadan, awaiting a vehicle to be snatched, quickly removed the car tracker and was heading for Abuja when he was halted at Ikire by policemen from Osun State Police Command. The car was recovered from him.
Okafor’s arrest led to the apprehension of two other suspects namely Biola Ayoola and Alhaji Ibrahim Animashaun, whose house Ayoola described as the take-off point whenever they were going for robbery operation. Since then, Abbey decided to leave Ibadan to lie low for a while before he resurfaced and bought a black Volkswagen car with registration number KRD 803 BR.
On the day he was arrested at Beyerunka area of Ibadan, Crime Reports learnt that it was a real war between him and the SARS operatives who were after him, as he also injured one of them by stabbing him with a broken mirror.
In an interview, 27-year-old Abbey who said he is from Elekuro in Ibadan, Oyo State and married with one child narrated his foray into the crime world thus: “I learnt how to trade in clothes like jeans and tops but I did not establish my own shop. I was introduced to armed robbery three years ago by Alhaji Ibrahim Animashaun. Before then, I used to pick pockets in Lagos State and whenever I had phones, I usually sold them to Animashaun. I knew he used to sell phone accessories at Beere area of Ibadan.
“He introduced one man called Biggie to me. Biggie is based in Abuja and would ask us to snatch neat vehicles for him. After delivery, he would send money to us through Animashaun.
Modus Operandi
“We sometimes attack car owners when they park their vehicles or we use our motorcycles to hit them from the back so as to force them to a stop. Once they get down, we will attack. We operate at any time of the day. We use guns during the attack. When we attacked a lawmaker who was buying fuel into his Honda CRV at Ashi and collected the vehicle from him, we did not shoot him.
“We attacked the second lawmaker at Olodo area by hitting his Toyota Avensis car from the back with our okada. He stopped and we attacked him. We put him in the vehicle with us and while he was struggling with us, one of us, Suraju shot him. We then dumped him beside a bush along Egbeda area.
“One of our gang members, Biola, used to ride okada during our operation. On December 9, we snatched a black Toyota Avensis from a woman at Adeoyo, Ring Road area. We took the vehicle to Victor who was the person recruited by Biggie to be removing vehicle trackers from snatched vehicles. I have always known Victor with Biggie. Biggie introduced him as one of his boys.
“The day Biola was arrested at Alekuso area, when coming from Alhaji Animashaun’s party, I was at Beere area watching him and the police. It was that very day that I left Ibadan for Lagos. Biggie called me while I was hiding that we should start operating again since he would need money to spend on the release of those who had been charged to court and remanded in prison. I was angry that he wanted to put me in further trouble so I broke my sim card and lost contact with him.
“Biola, Yusuf, Suraju, Dayo and I were gang members, and we used to report to Animashaun. We have never killed anyone. We even quarrelled with Suraju who shot the lawmaker though we did not know that he was a lawmaker then.”
He admitted that his activities were nothing to be proud of. “I cannot wish my son to be an armed robber. It’s a shameful thing,” he said.
The PPRO however said that the suspect’s case was still under investigation and would be charged to court after the completion.
Source: nigeria tribune