Captured Lagos armed robbery suspects say they only robbed for money to celebrate Christmas

TWO armed robbers recently arrested by the Lagos State Police Command after they were caught snatching money from bank customers have pleaded for mercy saying they only did it so they could get money to celebrate Christmas.

Policemen attached to the Ilasamaja Division  of the Nigeria Police force arrested two members of a robbery syndicate that specialised in attacking customers who had gone to withdraw money from banks in Sadiku/ Ilasamaja, along the Oshodi-Apapa expressway in Lagos. According to the police, the members of the syndicate which usually operates on motorcycles, positions themselves along the service lane of the motorway, awaiting their victims.

Following several complaints of attacks, the Lagos State police commissioner Edgal Imohimi, ordered 24 hours surveillance around the banks along the expressway. This resulted in the arrest of two suspects whose names were given as Boniface Ewerem, 46 and Joseph, 42.

In a sting operation, a male customer who had gone to withdraw N350,000 stepped out of one of the banks at about 2pm and the two men ordered him to hand over the money, pointing a gun at him. One of them fired a shot into the air as he snatched the money from the customer and zoomed off on their operational motorbike.

They were then chased by policemen from Ilasamaja who caught up with them and affected their arrest. Angry members of the local community then requested that the suspects be handed over to them with an apparent intent to lynch them jungle justice style.

One of the suspects, Joseph, said: "This is my first time, I wanted to use the money I would have stolen to celebrate Christmas. We never had any intention to kill our victims.”

Explaining how they were arrested, local resident, Ayiola Ganiu, said: “The attacked customer raised the alarm which alerted us, so everyone chased them. They abandoned their motorbike and ran across the express, inward Soaps, unknown to them that there was a police station on that side.

 “If the police had not intervened, the robbers would have been lynched because they have sent many to premature deaths and we wanted them to serve as deterrents to their colleagues. Unfortunately for us, the police were present."

During interrogation, the suspects revealed that they came from Iba area of the state to operate.  They were then immediately transferred to the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad, as a crowd thronged the station.