The Ogun State Police Command says it has arrested three suspected highway robbers at Alapako, along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
The suspects – Uzefa Idris, 19; Adamu Yakubu, 28; and 17-year-old Ayuba Buhari – were arrested following a distress call received by the Divisional Police Officer, Owode Egba division.
A statement on Sunday by the police spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said that a gang of robbers forcefully stopped a Mazda bus on the expressway and dispossessed the occupants of their belongings.
Oyeyemi said following receipt of the distress call, the DPO, Owode Egba, Matthew Ediae, led his anti-robbery team to the scene.
According to him, the hoodlums, on sighting the policemen, took to their heels but were chased into the bush, where three of them were apprehended.
“The victims, Oluwakemi Oyegade, who had lost N545,000 and one itel phone to the robbers, and the driver, Zacheaus Olaniyi, were rescued.
“The two victims narrated that the hoodlums jumped onto the road from the bush and forcefully stopped the vehicle, consequent upon which they started beating them with machetes before dispossessing them of their valuables,” Oyeyemi said.
The police spokesman said a sum of N99,700 and one itel phone were recovered from the suspects.
He added that the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Kenneth Ebrimson, had ordered the transfer of the suspects to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad for further investigation and prosecution.