12-year-old boy held for robbery

The Oyo State Police Command has arrested a young robbery suspect at the Ogunpa area of Ibadan.

The 12-year-old boy, names withheld, was said to have escaped from the custody of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS), Dugbe, Ibadan, twice and was eventually arrested around the Gate area of Ibadan. The suspect, who dropped out in primary five at Methodist Primary School, Gate, Ibadan, was alleged to have robbed some houses.

According to a police source, the suspect stole N15,000 from the inmates in the cell before he escaped the second time. His escape, according to a police officer, almost cost four policemen their jobs. “This person you are seeing, he looks small but he is not small at all. If you get to know what he is doing, you will fear him. He handles gun, I mean, he can shoot very well. He robs and does all sorts of evil. We have arrested him twice and he escaped from our cell. The last time he escaped, four of our policemen were locked up and they were not released until I re-arrested him and that is why we are giving him close monitoring,” a policeman disclosed.

The suspect, who disclosed that his mother lives at Ile-Igbo area of Ibadan, said he lost his father five months ago. He said a man called Biodun, a. k.a. Hallmark, taught him how to shoot a gun, adding that his gang usually operates in the night. He said he lives in a motor park at Orita Aperin area of Ibadan.

According to him; “the last operation that we did before they arrested us was when we went to a house in the night at about 9 p.m. We chartered a taxi and after the operation, we gave the driver N1,000. When we got there, we said ‘everybody hands up and start giving us what you have.’ We were shooting up, and out of fear, they surrendered their property.”