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Prison escapee arrested in Lagos highway truck hijack

Police in Lagos have been on the trail for a mysterious gang of nocturnal truck hijackers which has operated on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway for almost…

Police in Lagos have been on the trail for a mysterious gang of nocturnal truck hijackers which has operated on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway for almost two years.
Police attached to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Lagos Command said more than 20 of such incidents were reported by victims whose trucks were hijacked and taken into a forest from where the contents are loaded into other trucks.
Recently, operatives of SARS told our correspondent that with the help of a telephone tracking device, they were able to arrest one Fabian Oladele, 29, believed to be behind some of the attacks.
The source told our correspondent that when they arrested Oladele, it was discovered that the suspect had escaped from a prison in Ondo State where he was serving a jail term.
The source said the suspect was a self-proclaimed gang member of a group wanted by the police for attacking petrol tankers along the major highways at night.
The source further alleged that the gang, at times, hid under the cover of darkness to haul huge truck realms on incoming trucks, and sometimes shot rubber bullets at vehicles shattering their windscreens and forcing the drivers to stop.
“The police authority knows that there’s more than a few individuals involved in the attacks and would soon catch up with the others,” the source said.
The suspect alleged that some gang members had come to the prison yard to effect the escape of one of their members.
According to him, the gang allegedly disarmed the prison wardens before breaking into the cell to free their member.
The police team had recovered a vehicle from the gang in Okitipupa, Ondo State, while the suspect was arrested in Ojodu Berger area of Lagos.
He took the police to places where the gang had taken diverted trucks, and stolen vehicles to and they include Ibadan, Ogbomosho in Oyo State and Ilesha in Osun State.
The suspect however said that all the diversions were done after he escaped from prison in 2012.
His gang also snatched a Nissan Jeep, a tanker and a tipper. The gang leader, one AlhajiKosomona, sold it to a dealer in Akure, Ondo State, it was discovered.
In his statement to the police, the suspect said: “We were about 175 prisoners who fled. We were in Olokuta prison, Akure, Ondo State. The incident happened in the night. It was in 2012. I attended the College of Education, Ondo town, Ondo State. I read Home Economics.
“A friend called Festus Ayeni was involved in an operation and I was implicated. That was how I landed in prison. My friend had stolen bags of rice. I had spent 10 months in the prison before the break.
“A friend called me to Lagos. I came to Lagos from Akure, Ondo State.
After my escape from prison, I was working on a farm. I grew cereals and yam. When my mother was alive, she advised me not to join bad company but I was disobedient. I am now reaping my disobedience.
“During the truck operations, I was given N100,000. We would block the truck and carry the fuel to go and sell. My boss and other gang members are already in the cells of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad.
“They gave me N100,000 on each of the four operations I participated.
We sold 11,000 litres, 33,000 litres. We also diverted a cement truck and sold to a buyer in Ado-Ekiti.
“We snatched a Benz 406 vehicle, which the police have recovered now.
My wife knows I am a robber. We are a five-man gang,” the suspect said.
 

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