Before the arrest of
29-year-old Lekan Ismail Adewale, a.k.a. Asumo, on May 28, 2016 in Ibadan, Oyo
State, he rode in the crime world like a king, but when he was arrested, he
wore a calm look that could make someone who had not listened to his confession
to think that his arrest was a mistake.
Before his arrest, Asumo
and his gang members were reported to have terrorised Nigerian citizens in
Lagos, Oyo and Ogun states, as well as the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Mr Leye Oyebade had told Daily Tribune that during a press briefing recently that Asumo’s gang had engaged in series of armed robbery operations at different areas of Ibadan, and had since been on the wanted list of the command.
Oyebade said that the
suspect’s arrest was made possible by the information received by his command
at about 9:00p.m on May 28 that Asumo was sighted along Idi-Ape Iwo Road area
of Ibadan. It will be recalled that the story of the arrest of one of his gang
members, Saheed Mohammed, was reported in the May 1, 2016 edition of
Daily Tribune. Also arrested with Saheed was a native doctor, called
Rasheed Adifala, who was allegedly providing charms to fortify the suspects.
Their mode of operation,
Daily Tribune learnt, was to target ATM users at night, bundle them into
their operational vehicle and take round the city to withdraw money from their
accounts till the early hours of the morning, before they are released.
Aside this, the gang also
specialised in snatching cars from their owners at gunpoint, it was further
gathered. Though Asumo was arrested in Ibadan, he was said to have been
transferred to the Ogun State Police Command for further investigations into
his criminal activities in the state.
Daily Tribune held a
comprehensive interview with the suspect. Below are the excerpts:
I am from Ayetoro in Ogun
State but I live in Abeokuta. I trained as an electrical/electronic technician.
Due to lack of fund, I was picking scraps to get money to rent a shop. That was
how I met Austin, Abayomi, Dele and Danladi who introduced me into robbery. I
noticed that they were never broke while I always struggled to survive after
selling the scraps we were picking.
One day, they told me that
I was not smart.
They promised to take me
to an outing. I followed them on a day and they entered a shop and robbed at
gunpoint in broad daylight. One of us was caught during my second outing with
the gang and he was used to trace me. That was how I landed in Oba Prison,
Abeokuta in March 2013. I left prison in December 2015 and the case was still
going on before my recent arrest.
While in prison, I met one
Tosin and he assisted me in perfecting my bail condition. When I came out, I
linked up with him because he gave me his number when he was leaving. I asked
him what we could do to make money and he said we would go into car snatching.
Both of us travelled to Cotonou, Republic of Benin to buy two guns.
Three others – Sina,
Michael and Saheed joined to make a five-member gang. We started car snatching.
We operated in Lekki area of Lagos State. We snatched a Nissan Almera at Iyana
Mortuary at Abeokuta in Ogun State. That was what led to Sina’s arrest by SARS
operatives in Abeokuta.
We also operated at
Challenge (Hyundai Elantra), Ring Road (Toyota Camry) and Iwo Road (Honda CRV)
areas of Ibadan, Oyo State, as well as Abuja. It was Tosin who took us to
Ibadan because he is an indigene. Sina has been charged to court and is
currently in Ibara prison. Saheed was arrested with the Hyundai car on Iseyin
Road by SARS operatives in Oyo town while he was coming from his Iseyin
hometown.
My role in the gang
I used to be one of those
that would ‘arrest’ our victims after we must have blocked them with our
operational vehicle and drawn our guns. Saheed, Michael and I used to handle
the guns. Our operational vehicles were also snatched from owners.
The Toyota Camry 2007
model that we snatched at gunpoint at Lekki was sold for N280,000 and I got
N60,000. I bought a Toyota Rav4 with robbery proceeds.
We live in different
states but we used to call one another to come together whenever we had any
work to do. I live in Abeokuta, Tosin in Abuja, Saheed in Iseyin, Michael in
Lagos and Sina in Abeokuta. Tosin was the one keeping the guns and he usually
brought them whenever there was work to do.
How I was arrested
I was in Ibadan where a
travel agent had helped me in securing a South African visa. I wanted to
withdraw some money from an ATM to pay for my ticket because the visa will
lapse in July. I decided to travel out to hustle because I know that the
robbery I engaged in was not good. I am still amazed how police got to know I
was there and arrested me.
Why I chose robbery
I wanted to gather money
to travel out of Nigeria. It was not as if I loved what I was doing.
My family
I had a wife who bore two
children for me but she left when I was arrested in 2013, leaving my two kids
with my mother. My mother lives alone in Abeokuta but my father is married to
another woman. My mother has four of us and I am the first child and son. My
mother is a pepper miller. I never wish my children to take after me.
Gang members’ fate
Other gang members have
also met their Waterloo as they are either in police net or are in prison
awaiting trial. They are Michael who is in Ikoyi prison; Sina in Ibara Prison;
Saheed detained at SARS Oyo and Tosin who has been arrested in Abuja.
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