Photo : We pray before operation so God will bring only sinners our way - Robbery Suspects

Photo : We pray before operation so God will bring only sinners our way - Robbery Suspects

Robbery Suspects

Four members of a robbery gang were arrested by the Lagos State Police Command yesterday.

One of the suspected robbers, Mutalubi Abdullahi, explained that the prayer was to ensure that only ‘sinners’ would be dealt with by the gang, while the ‘innocent’ would be spared.

The robbers were arrested by the operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the command, for robbing early morning pedestrians and motorists in the Mile 2 area of the state.


29-year-old Abdullahi from Igbeti, Oyo State, said he and other members of the gang were driven into robbery by poverty. He said they were careful to rob only those who deserved to be robbed.

He said, “
That is why we usually prayed to God before embarking on any operation. The prayer was for God to protect us and to bring only sinners our way so that those who were innocent would be spared.I was formerly working as a panel beater in Oyingbo, Lagos State. I started robbing just last year. I have gone on robbery operations about 10 times.The gang has three guns. We only use the guns to frighten people. Mile 2 Expressway, Alapere and Oshodi are areas where we operated. The money I made from panel beating and okada riding was not sufficient. That was why I took to robbery.”

Thirty-year-old Akinyemi, who was an also an okada rider before joining the gang, told Punch:
I made about N25,000 from each robbery operation.

, “I was an okada rider, but when I had an accident with the okada, I stopped the business. I made about N25,000 each from about four operations I went with the gang. Our style was to attack people during traffic jams. My wife did not know I was a member of a robbery gang. It is true that we prayed before our operations, asking for protection as we went out.”