My boyfriend made me dump prostitution for armed robbery–Suspect

Twenty-four-year-old Sherifat Bakare, is a young lady one could
describe at first glance as pretty. But as she sat on the ground in
front of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Ogun State Police
Command in Abeokuta, one cannot but imagine how deadly she might have
been on operations with her robbery gang.

"I was hustling before Raji, my boyfriend, told me to join his gang,"
Bakare began.

But when she was asked to elaborate on what she did as a "hustler,"
she explained that she meant prostitution.

Bakare in company with four other members of her gang, were
apprehended on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 by the men of Ogun State SARS,
who had been on their trail after receiving a tip-off about the gang's
plan.

It all began a few weeks ago, Bakare narrated. She said another member
of the gang, Bola Onasile, (also in SARS custody) had approached her
boyfriend about the availability of N70m in a wealthy man's house in
Joju area of Sango, Ogun State.

"I have only gone on two operations with them. I don't know him
(Onasile) well. I only know that he was the one who brought the job.

"Raji gathered other members and they snatched a vehicle (a Nissan
Quest) around Iwo Road, Ibadan. We decided that the vehicle would be
used for the operation.

"The gang asked me to sit in the front of the vehicle so that when we
were stopped by policemen on the way, being a woman in the front seat
would make them unsuspicious. But during the operation, the police
cornered us and Raji was shot dead."

Bakare did not betray any emotions as she narrated how the operation went.

Asked if she smoked Indian hemp like other members of her gang, she
said, "I have never tasted it, I only smoke cigarette."

But when our correspondent asked about her parents, tears streamed
down her face.

"I am from Idofian in Kwara State. My father is late but my mother
lives in Ibadan. She has no idea I do this kind of job and she does
not even know I am in police custody."

Bakare explained that she was a prostitute in Lekki where she was
making up to N5,000 per day until about two years ago.

"I was living with a security guard in a house at Osborne in Ikoyi.
The landlord of the house was out of the country. I was going from
there to 'hustle' in Lekki every night.

"Raji was a good helper to me. That was why I decided to leave
prostitution when he begged me. When he introduced me to armed
robbery, I asked him if there would be no problem and he assured me
that there would be none. When we started dating, I did not know he
was an armed robber though."

Asked how much she was promised out of the N70m they were going to
steal, Bakare said whatever went to her late boyfriend would have
accrued to her as well.

The young lady said she learnt photography when she dropped out of
secondary school but had not been able to practise the trade because
she did not think she could make much money from it.

During Saturday Punch's visit to the SARS office in Abeokuta,
36-year-old Onasile, who brought the N70m job, was evasive when our
correspondent asked him how he knew about the money.

He later said that an acquaintance of his, a man named Tunde, informed
him about the money.

Onasile said, "Tunde is like a brother to me. He told me the man we
were going to rob was his relation. He said the man had N70m at home.
I told him I had no boys who could do the job. But he was always
disturbing me about getting a gang together to do the operation.

"Few days later, I informed Raji about the operation and he told me he
could get boys for the job. We planned to sell the vehicle we snatched
after the operation but we did not know how police got to know about
the operation. Tunde ran away when the police were after us."

Onasile said he was a revenue collector for a local government council
in Lagos before he lost the job when a new chairman weeded out excess
employees from the council.

According to him, he got a job as a site thug getting assignments from
land grabbers once in a while but the money was not coming as needed.

Meanwhile, a gang of robbers, who specialised in snatching motorcycles
have been apprehended by the SARS in Ogun State after an under cover
operation.

Paraded alongside the suspects were the receipts, which they told the
police that they issued to buyers of the motorcycles they snatched
from their victims.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Ogun State, Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi,
said he believed that more members of Bakare's robbery gang were still
out on the streets. He said investigation was still ongoing to ensure
that they did not escape justice.
He said, "We are on their trails. But we can assure the public that
wherever they are, we will hunt them down and apprehend them.

"In the case of the gang who specialised in snatching motorcycles, our
men were able to track them down after we got a tip-off that one of
them wanted to purchase a gun.

Source: Punch