The suspect identified as Jamiu Ishola was arrested at the weekend by SARS operatives led by the Officer in Charge, Superintendent of Police (SP), Abba Kyari following a confessional statement by an armed robbery suspect.
In his statement to the police, Ishola said he used to work as a thug for former leader of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in the state, late Saka Saula, alleging that one of the guns was given to him by the union leader.
He said the gun was meant to protect Alhaji Saka Saula during the frequent clashes involving leadership of the transport union in Lagos. “I was a local hunter in Ogun State, before I was recruited into Saula’s gang. I was given the locally made single barrel gun while working for the union leader. As one of his trusted hands, I followed him everywhere he went, particularly at the peak of the crisis involving the leaders of the union. We were more than 20 in our group then, but only a few of us were close to Saula. While working as a thug, I also worked as a security guard at the union’s headquarters. The problem started soon after the death of Alhaji Saka, because the new leaders did not have any need for us.
“I went to Owode with the two rifles that were in my custody. I went back to my hunting business but that was until I ran into one of my friends called Ibrahim alias Oba. Ibrahim was a notorious armed robber who would come into Lagos from time to time to raid people of their valuables at gun point. It was Ibrahim who first introduced me into renting of my gun to robbers”, he said.
The Lagos State Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, Kelma Kolle, said investigation into the case was still ongoing.
