RRS arrests suspected fraudsters operating in Lagos

Operatives of Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Lagos State Police Command have arrested two fraudsters, suspected to be members of a syndicate that specialise in hypnotising and robbing members of the public along the Lekki–Ajah Expressway.

The two suspects, Ojo Dauda, 30, and Segun Olatoye, 36, were arrested on Monday, March 26, 2016 at about 1:00pm. after one of their victims spotted them and alerted the RRS patrol.

The suspects were said to have swindled one Abayomi Ayoola, 28, last week on the same expressway.

Ayoola said that the suspects accosted him after he dropped his boss’s wife at a shopping plaza, along New Road and went to deposit money in the bank.

“One of the suspects accosted and asked if he knew one man called Baba Ijebu. As we were talking, suddenly, another guy met us at the same spot; I later got to know that they were working together. In fact, I don’t know how they took me to Alpha Beach, where my Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card was collected. They used credit card to withdraw N15, 000 from my accounts.

“Before, that, they took a sum of N30, 000, which I had on me, and a Q10 Blackberry and a Nokia phone. They abandoned me and they took to their heels,” he said.

Ayoola added that after they robbed him, he was on a watch out for them until he spotted them again on Monday on the same road.

“Since then, I have kept a tab on them. When I saw them again on that same spot on Monday, March 27th, 2016, I rushed quickly to go and call the RRS operatives working within axis, to assist me in arresting them. I thank God that they were eventually arrested,” he said.

According to the RRS team, the victim approached them while they were on routine patrol along the expressway and told them “that some group of men collected his belongings. Instantly, we followed him to the spot where the two suspects were apprehended”, the police said.

Both suspects confessed to the crime. Ojo Dauda said that he was lured into the trade after he was duped about a year ago.

According to him, “in November 2015, while I was on my way home from work around Ikorodu area, a guy, later identified as Olaiya, accosted me to ask for direction to somewhere in the area; after giving him the description of the area he asked for, he went further to cajole me to walk some miles with him.

“Before I could gain my consciousness, I didn’t find money on me any longer. I rushed down to the spot where I still found him. But he told me that he can’t refund my money that the money has been shared immediately I left.

“He gave me an option to join them to dupe people in such manner I was duped. He told me I would realise N10, 000:00 per day, so I joined him in fraud business in order to support myself financially.”

The suspect added that he had made a lot of money duping people, although he has no savings in the bank.

The suspect added that their syndicate operated throughout Lagos state, but that his own are of operation was Jakande Estate and Lekki-Ajah Road.

“My base is in Jakande in Lekki-Ajah Expressway while others also position themselves around the axis and in the state as a whole. Every night, we all converge at Olaiya’s house (group leader) around Jakande where we share anything we realised for the day,” he said.

Segun Olatoye said that he was just introduced to the business about two months ago and that he joined syndicate after his dry cleaning business had challenges.