Charms fail burglar as he was caught sleeping and snoring after robbery operation

SUNDAY Saliu was a hunter. However, his games were not animals but properties of innocent residents of houses he used to invade with his partner in crime. To make further success in his hunting game, he decided to make a charm that would make the coast clear for him and make his victims sleep throughout the hunting period.


The charm was a padlock which he was told he would only need to lock to keep victims snoring so that they could fall easy prey. But on Saturday, August 10, he became the hunted, and the efforts of his seekers paid off after he, instead of his victims, was caught napping, with the items he and his gang member stole found with him. Saliu and his gang member, one Lukmon Sunday, who is currently at large, was alleged of terrorising Odo Ona Elewe area of Ibadan, stealing their valuable properties, especially at night.

The arrest of Saliu was made known by the Operation Burst, a security outfit in Oyo State, when he was paraded along with other suspects on Monday, August 12. Briefing journalists on the arrest, the second-in-command at Operation Burst, CSP Elijah Bawa, who represented the Commander, Brigadier-General Laz Ilo, said that one of its patrol team within Ibadan metropolis received a distress call on Saturday, August 10 from a landlord residing at Second Avians, Ayegun area that some criminals broke into their residences to steal their properties.

Bawa said further that the patrol team searched the area until they discovered Saliu where he was hiding in an uncompleted building. When he was searched, Bawa disclosed that different handsets, jewelries and a knife, among other items, were recovered from him. The second-in-command further stated that the suspect confessed that he was a criminal while he gave the name of his partner in crime as Lukmon Sunday. He added that the suspect would be transferred to the appropriate security agency for further investigations.

Crime Reports had an interview session with the suspect. Below are the excerpts:

His background
I am Sunday Saliu. I am from Okene in Kogi State. I am 18 years old. I was living with my uncle in Kogi who was a Christian. My father brought me to Ibadan to learn Arabic and become an Arabic teacher. I never knew my mother though I learnt she is in Kogi State. I never paid attention to the Arabic teachings because I was not interested. After I finished my primary school, I followed my friends to Lagos to learn bricklaying.

After training, I used to do a joinman job. My friend, Lukmon Sunday, who is at large used to call for bricklaying work but whenever we did not have anything to do, he would invite me to join him in breaking into houses to steal phones and other valuables. My friend lived at Odo Ona Elewe area in Ibadan but I was living in Lagos and used to come to Ibadan whenever he invited me to Ibadan. I also used to invite him to Lagos if there was any place I saw we could operate in. We have been operating for about two years.

We have operated in Ikorodu and Yaba areas in Lagos but in Ibadan, we have been to Challenge, Ayegun and Odo Ona Elewe areas.

On the charm found hanging on his neck
I went to Saki with my friend to make the charm. We told the herbalist that we were land grabbers and needed protection. He told us that the charmed padlocks should be locked whenever we wanted to go and forcibly grab any land, saying that the owner would yield to us easily. We paid him N10,000 for the two charms. We collected them this month of August. Before going for the charm, we were not using any diabolical means.

It was the day we collected the charms that we decided to check their effectiveness. On that Saturday, we went to Odo Ona Elewe neighbourhood at about 10p.m. We entered a room through a window and picked a bag in which we found jewelries and mobile phones. After leaving the place, he went to look for a place to sleep and I also went to an uncompleted building to sleep.

I didn’t know when they started searching the neighbourhood after discovering our theft. I was in deep sleep with the bag hanging on my neck when the residents came upon me.
Actually, we did not start with breaking into houses. What we were doing was bag snatching.

Culled from Tribune