The police in Lagos have arrested a man who deals
in men’s wear, Akeem Ariyo, for allegedly robbing a shop on Ariyo Street, in
the Balogun Market area of Lagos.
It was learnt that the 35-year-old suspect was
arrested along with his wife, Mosunmola, on July 14, 2015, but the wife was
freed the following day.
The police alleged that Ariyo and others at large
burgled the shop owned by one Kudirat Akinyede, said to be the wife of a police
officer, between 10pm of June 9 and 6am of June 7, carting away gold jewellery
and cash sum, all estimated at N11.6m.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the security
guards attached to the market were also apprehended in connection with the
crime, but were later released after they were interrogated.
The police said the suspect confessed to the
crime after he was transferred to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Ikeja. But
Mosunmola, quoted her husband as saying that he did so under duress.
“Officers at SARS said he had confessed. But when
I asked him, he said he had suffered a lot; there are bruises all over his
body,” she added.
Mosunmola told our correspondent that the suspect
had visited his parents, who live near the burgled shop, and was bathing on the
premises in the midnight when he saw some men in black dresses. He reportedly
ran inside, leaving his phone on a bench.
It was learnt that policemen attached to the Lion
Building Police Division, later called Mosunmola with her husband’s phone, and
traced them to their residence in Ikorodu.
She said the police ransacked their house and
took her jewellery box to the station, where Akinyede was asked to identify
whether they were hers.
She said, “On June 14, somebody called me that he
found my husband’s phone. I gave the caller our address to bring it. Suddenly,
a team of policemen stormed our house. They searched our house and took us to
the station.
“At the station, my gold trinket was shown to the
woman, but she could not find her own there. They later returned the box to
me.”
Also, a resident, Rasheed Smith, said he, Ariyo
and other friends had parted around 11pm on June 9, adding that he had made a
statement at the police station in respect of the incident.
He said, “Akeem (Ariyo) had come to visit his
parents on the fateful day. He, his sibling and I were outside chatting that
day until around 11pm when we left for our respective houses. In the morning,
he told me what he saw while he was bathing, adding that he could not find his
phone.
“I was surprised when I learnt he was arrested
for robbery. I was invited to the police station and I made a statement. I
think the police need to do a thorough investigation because the woman’s shop
was looted again a week after the first incident.”
However, the police arraigned Ariyo before an
Ikeja Magistrate’s Court on two counts bordering on armed robbery.
The charges read, “That you, Akeem Ariyo, and
others still at large, between 10pm and 6am of June 9 and 10, on Ariyo Street,
in the Lagos Magisterial District, did conspire to commit felony to wit; armed
robbery.
“That you, and others now at large, on the same
date, time and place, in the aforementioned magisterial district, while armed
with guns, did steal gold jewellery valued at N8m, cash sum of N3m and a sum of
$3,000 ─ all valued at N11.6m ─ property of one Kudirat Akinyede, and thereby
committed an offence punishable under Section (1) (2) (a) (b) of the Robbery
and Firearm Act, Cap 398, Law of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990, as amended.”
The defendant’s plea was not taken by the
presiding magistrate, Mrs. O. Sule-Amzat, who ordered that the case file be
sent to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions for legal advice.
While adjourning the case till September 29,
2015, the magistrate remanded Ariyo in prison pending the outcome of the DPP’s
advice.
Source:Punch
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