Ogun police parade teenage mother, others for robbery

The police in Ogun State, on Wednesday, paraded a teenage nursing mother, Fausat Adeosun, for aiding and abetting her husband, Ismail, in his alleged robbery operations.

Twenty-six-year-old Ismail Adeosun who, is wanted by the police for his alleged involvement in armed robbery and murder has been on the run since Monday when the police stormed his wife’s Ago-Ika, Abeokuta residence, where they recovered a locally-made gun.

Also paraded by the police was Ismail’s 15-year-old younger brother, Tobi Adeosun, who was alleged to have hidden the recovered gun and Fausat’s elder sister, 23-year-old Iyabode.

While parading the suspects, the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Ikemefuna Okoye, said the teenage mother, her husband’s younger brother and other suspects were arrested when the state Anti-Robbery Squad swooped on the suspects’ home.

Okoye said, “This woman (teenage nursing mother) has been keeping the guns for her husband. His (Ismail’s) 15-year-old brother here is the armourer of the gang.”

Petting her baby, Fausat told newsmen that she did not know that her husband was an armed robber until recently.

She added that following her recent discovery of her husband’s involvement in armed robbery, Ismail allegedly threatened to kill her if she ever told anyone.

Fausat said, “On Sunday, he came to me and I was away to church and I asked him whether he had removed his gun from my house because we don’t live together. But he said he and his friend, Danladi, were around to pick the ‘load’. I never knew he was a robber until he brought the gun to my house.

“He asked me whether I had told anybody and even threatened to kill me if I informed anybody and that he would run away and leave me to suffer in his stead. The police came on Monday and asked me of the gun but I told them his brother had taken the gun away. That was how I was arrested. He (Ismail) was arrested in Ibadan recently for attempting to bail a friend. He had been arrested for the possession of fire arms before.”

Ismail’s younger brother, Tobi, told journalists that the alleged runaway robber’s wife instructed him to hide the gun when she saw the police coming to search their residence.

“It was his (Ismail’s) wife who used to help him to keep his guns. That day when the police came, his wife, Fausat, told me to hide the gun behind a block beside the house. It was wrapped inside a piece of cloth and when the police came, I told them everything and even took them to where the gun was hidden.

“At first I lied to the police because I was scared and I had never experienced such before. I never knew my brother was a robber until that day,” he said.

Also paraded by the police were two fake soldiers, Peter Obidozie and Kenneth Adogbeji. They are being held for robbery and snatching of motorcycles.

Obidozie and Adogbeji, who were paraded wearing full military kits, were arrested at Mowe, the Ogun police boss said.

The two fake soldiers however told newsmen that they were dismissed from the Nigerian Army and had to look for means of survival.

But according to the Ogun police commissioner, “These are fake soldiers arrested in Mowe. In fact, their stock-in-trade is that they would corner motorcycle riders and they would take them somewhere. The two of them would climb the motorcycle and keep asking the rider to take this direction and that direction until late in the night, then they would snatch the motorcycle from the owner and also would dispossess him of other valuables.

“They kept on practising this until luck ran out on them. They were somewhere in a garage and somebody who had been their victim saw them and raised the alarm and these fake soldiers were arrested. Four of their victims came here yesterday to identify them and they couldn’t deny. Initially, they claimed they were soldiers. The Army sent an officer here yesterday who asked them some questions but they couldn’t answer. That was when we discovered that they are fake soldiers and they now confessed that actually they are fake soldiers. So, they are robbers as far as we are concerned.”

The police also paraded 14 other suspects for attempted robbery and unlawful possession of firearms while 11 arms and several rounds of ammunition were recovered.