19 Lagosians murdered in one month – Police

No fewer than 19 Lagosians have been murdered in Lagos and 31 armed robbery attempt foiled, the Lagos State Police Commissioner, Zubairu Muazu disclosed on Monday.

Muazu, at a news conference in Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, however, said Lagos witnessed a huge reduction in violent crimes over the last few months, a situation he said, could be attributed to the robust crime prevention strategies put in place by the Command.

According to him, the Command arrested 40 armed robbery suspects, 29 suspects for cultism, and 19 suspects for murder within one month.

He disclosed that 19 firearms and 51 ammunition rounds of live ammunition were recovered, while 31 armed robbery attempts were foiled.



In one of the command’s achievement, Muazu said the police arrested 11 notorious traffic robbery suspects on 14 September, 2019 at Igando area of the state.

He listed the names of the suspects as Ahmed Durojaiye, Waheed Oseni  Rilwan Moshood and Taiwo Idowu, all known to be notorious armed robbers who specialised in snatching phones, money and other valuables from unsuspecting members of the public, mostly where there were traffic gridlocks.

“They operate mostly on motorcycles. The four suspects were arrested and one locally made pistol was recovered. They also confessed to be members of Eiye confraternity. A follow up investigation by the State CID led to the arrest of additional seven suspects: Mosuru Mukaila ‘m’ 20yrs, Ahmed Oyebode ‘m’ 29yrs , Seyi Ogundele ‘m’ 36yrs, Ogunmola Akintayo ‘m’ 30yrs , Olatunji segun ‘m’ 28yrs , Ayobami Olaniyi ‘m’ 20yrs and Oladimeji Mustapha ‘m’ 27yrs.

“They all confessed to be responsible for series of robberies at traffic points, bus stops, around Yabatech, Yaba, Ejigbo, Igando-ikotun, Ipaja and Isolo areas of the state. Other items recovered include: one Tricycle, five Bajaj motorcycles, two cutlasses and two phones.

“Investigation revealed that Ahmed Oyebode who is a cultist and motorcycle operator gives his bike out for robbery operations and is receiving stolen phones and cash derived from the operations as reward. Seyi Ogundele and Ogunmola Akintayo are well known leaders of Eiye cult group in Ejigbo. The suspects will be charged to Court,” Muazu said.

The commissioner  also disclosed the arrest of Awawa Boys’ ring leader in an operation carried out on 21 September, 2019.

He said “on 21st September, 2019 at about 09:45 hours, operatives of Operation Crush attached to Area G Command Ogba, arrested one Toby Akinbayo alias Scorpion. He is the number one in the hierarchy of Awawa Boys. Their strongholds are Agege, Dopemu, Elere, Ijaye-Ojokoro, Alakuko, Pen-Cinema, Abattior, Iju and Oko-Oba.

“He is the most dreaded in the hierarchy of cult leaders and his gang is responsible for series of violent crimes and social disorders in the areas earlier mentioned. Two other members of his gang, namely Balogun Jide and Dolapo One were arrested. The suspects will be charged to Court.”

Another achievement, Muazu said was the arrest of three suspects who specialised in blackmail and preyed on their victims, especially married men by taking video recording of them with mischievous ladies and forcefully dispossess them of their valuables.

“The suspects are Aspita Mercy ‘m’, Jonathan Ukonues Estreem ‘m and Emmanuella Ozeegi ‘f’. Their modus operandi is to lure their victims, especially married men through unsolicited dating by Emmanuella Ozeegi and once she succeeds, she invites the victim to a hotel or residence of the kingpin Aspita Mercy. The lady will then make a phone call to her master and they will immediately enter into the room, attack their victims and order the lady and victim to be naked for video recording.

“The victim will be searched and dispossessed of his valuables and be forced to write an undertaking for payment of ransom or be threatened with the video clips going viral. The suspects have confessed having two successful operations. In the recent attempt, the suspects lured one Musa, a bureau de change agent to a hotel based on a request made by Emmanuella Ozeegi that she had some Euros currency at home which her brother brought from abroad and she wanted naira equivalent of two million. They were however arrested in the process. The suspects will be charged to court,” he explained.