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.
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