Two members of a robbery gang identified as Moruf Afolabi, 42, and Saheed Adeoti, 25, have been arrested by the Lagos State Police Command for allegedly attacking a polythene producing company in Alibaba, in Isashi area of the state, stealing a raw material evaluated at N6.4m.
A police officer, identified as Tunde, allegedly escorted a truck containing 220 bags of the stolen raw material to the Mangoro, where they were sold.
According to Punch Metro, the suspects were arrested sometime in September 2016, three weeks after they attacked the company, Alphabet Packaging Nigeria Limited.
It was learnt that the gang members had gone to the company around 7am on Sunday, August 14, and told a security guard at the gate that they were directed by the manager to collect the raw material.
The guard reportedly insisted that they called the manager on the phone so he could confirm the directive.
When the robbers realised their ploy would not work, they reportedly resorted to force.
A police source said: “The case was reported at the Isashi Police Division and was later transferred to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the state command in Ikeja. The information we gathered showed that one Tunde, whom one of the suspects identified as a policeman, escorted the truck to where the chemical was sold. But investigation revealed that the said policeman was not aware it was stolen.”
Afolabi, who hails from Abeokuta, Ogun State, told the police that he was invited for the operation by Adeoti, adding that he knew Tunde as a policeman in the Aboru area of the state.
Twenty-five year old Adeoti who is a native of Ayetoro, Ogun state, said they sold the chemical to a businessman who had a shop at the Mangoro area of Lagos, adding that he got N1.2m from the proceeds.
Inspector Benedict Aigbokhan, a police prosecutor, arraigned the suspects before an Ikeja Magistrate’s Court on Friday, October 7, on two counts of armed robbery.
Mrs. O. Olanipekun, the presiding magistrate, did not take the plea of the defendants ordering that the case file be forwarded to the Directorate of the Public Prosecutions for advice.
The magistrate adjourned the case till October 21, for legal advice.
