Olaleye Aluko and Tunde Ajaja

The police in Lagos have arrested a suspect, Akiri-Kemepamini Wisdom, who allegedly participated in the bank robbery in the FESTAC Town area of the state on Tuesday, October 13.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the 32-year-old suspect and one Diokoro Chinedu, were apprehended by the Igando Police Division last Tuesday along the LASU-Iba Road, while 86 bullets and an AK-49 rifle were recovered from them.

Our correspondent had reported on Wednesday, October 14, that the robbery gang stormed two commercial banks in the FESTAC Town area on the fateful day, during which a mother and her child were shot dead.

According to the police, Kemepamini-Wisdom and Chinedu, who were on an unregistered motorcycle, were arrested during a stop-and-search, while a third suspect, also on the motorcycle, escaped. A bag was said to have been recovered from them.

It was gathered that apart from the ammunition and the rifle, other items found in the bag were a Nigerian Army cap, a T-shirt with the inscription, ‘Gallant Patrol’, and the sum of N134,675.

Speaking with PUNCH Metro, Wisdom, who hails from the Ese Odo Local Government Area of Ondo State, said he and the runaway suspect were given an instruction by their boss, identified simply as TK , to take the bag to a man, whose name he claimed not to know.

He said, “I am a fisherman. It was my friend, Kinikini , who carried the bag. We were told by our boss to deliver the bag to another man. I am an errand boy to the gang leader. He and his boys stay in the creeks. He has many guns and I do not know how many he uses for operation.

“They usually give me about N4,000 for such delivery. Now that I have been arrested, I know I am dead because they will be trailing me thinking I have leaked their secrets to the police.”
Chinedu, however, denied being aware of the contents of the bag, saying he was just a victim of circumstances.

The Imo State indigene added that if he was aware of what his passengers were carrying, he would not have taken them.

He said, “I am an okada rider in Victory Estate, in the Iba area. I picked the two men around Monkey Village bus stop. They said I should take them to Iyana School. When we got there, they said I should take them to Igando.

“On the way, we met policemen on stop-and-search. If I knew they had such weapons in their bag, I wouldn’t have stopped for the policemen, but I didn’t know what was in the bag. When the policemen asked them what was inside the bag, they couldn’t answer.

“When one of the policemen touched the bag, he said what he touched felt like a gun. I told the policeman to hold them responsible because they owned the bag and that I was just an okada rider.

“The police have searched my house but they didn’t find anything. I am innocent. If God should save me from this trouble, I will never ride okada again.”

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, who paraded the suspects, said they were assisting the police with investigations.

He said, “They actually attempted to drop the bag and run away, but they were arrested. One of them is an errand boy to the kingpin of the gang that carried out the bank robbery in FESTAC recently. He is helping us with our investigations.”

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www.punchng.com/festac-bank-robbery-suspect-arrested-with-86-bullets/