By Esther Onyegbula
An interesting drama played out in
Lagos recently, after some criminals
who were with two baboons waylaid
a man as he was coming out from
the bank at Ogba area of the state.
The unsuspecting victim who
withdrew the sum of N230,000 from
the bank was shocked when he
stepped out only to see some
roughly dressed young men with two
giant-sized baboons starring at him
menacingly. Without blinking an
eyelid, the man took to his heels,
abandoning his bag of money.
Crime Guard gathered that the
bandits used their baboons to scare
the victim after driving close to the
banking premises with an
unregistered Nissan Primera. It was
learnt that two of the suspects
alighted from the vehicle with two
baboons and ambushed the man as
he was coming out of the banking
hall after withdrawing the money
from his account. The victim
reportedly was frightened and
dropped the nylon bag containing
the cash on the ground and ran for
dear life.
The suspect and his baboon
The suspect and his baboon
DRAMA AS FLEEING SUSPECT SPRAY
CASH
While running, the victim discovered
that the suspects who took the nylon
containing his cash was also running
with the baboon towards the
opposite direction and he went after
him. On realising that the victim was
coming after him, the suspect took
some of the money from the bag and
threw it at the victim who
immediately bent down to pick the
naira notes which littered the floor,
a move the suspect capitalised on to
escape into a waiting vehicle with
his baboon.
It was learnt that as soon as the
suspect and his baboon got into the
waiting vehicle, the driver zoomed
off abandoning the baboon and his
colleague identified as Mohamed
Nafiu and at the crime scene. An
angry mob that was attracted to the
scene nearly lynched both
Mohammed and the baboon but the
fierce -looking baboon stood stoutly
in defence of his master and
succeeded in warding off intending
attacks, till policemen who were
earlier invited arrived the scene and
apprehended the suspect.
SUSPECT’S ACCOUNT
Confessing to the crime, Mohamed
Nafiu told Crime Guard : “I am from
Gdala Local Government Area in
Kano state. I am married with two
children. I am a farmer but later, I
began to sell herbal medicines for
Malaria, typhoid, hypertension and
body pains. After a while, I decided
to relocate to Lagos to enable me
have more patronage. But before I
came to Lagos, I bought a baby
baboon as a pet that was a year and
eighteen months and started
training him.
I came to Lagos almost ten years ago
with the baboon and used it for
entertainment and for showmanship
while selling my herbal medicine. It
was during that period that I met
Nura, the leader of the gang, who
also has a baboon. He was the
person that brought the idea of
using the baboon to frighten and
rob victims. After the first operation,
I quit selling my herbal medicine
because it was not as lucrative as
robbing. I have participated in over
ten robbery operations using baboon
within Lagos.’’
MODE OF OPERATION
“We use the two baboons each time
we want to rob victims. Nura and I
would alight from the vehicle with
the baboons while a hired driver
will be on the alert to drive off. We
purposely hire different vehicles for
the operation so that we would not
be traced.
We pay the driver in advance before
each operation and also pay him
after each operation. Usually, we
operate in areas where we assume
victims will be in possession of cash
and where it will be easy to escape
after the operation, like: banks and
shopping malls.
The baboons have been trained to
scare victims and snatch their
valuables and they do whatsoever we
tell them to do.
We pay each hired driver based on
the time contracted because of the
risk involved, once the time is up,
he zooms off with or without us. Also
before the operation, we agree on
the amount, we give the driver
advance payment for fuel then pay
up after the job.
I met Nura in Lagos several years
back and my fortunes changed as I
was constantly having cash with me.
Immediately I saw the police
officers, I surrendered myself to
them and also assisted the officers
in hand- cuffing the baboon.
Crime Guard learnt that the case
was still under investigation and
efforts are currently in top gear to
arrest those who are on the run.
www.vanguardngr.com/2015/03/drama-as-bandits-use-baboon-to-rob-victim-of-n-23m/

Robbery in a new dimension,good for them......radarada.