MEN of the Kwara State Police Command have arrested two unidentified suspected car thieves and a commercial motorcyclist (okada rider) at Asa Dam Road, Ilorin last week. The suspects were nabbed at about 5:45 pm while trying to escape arrest after a white Toyota Camry (muscle) with registration number Abuja YAB 784 TA, which they were making away with, was demobilised.

It was gathered that the car and other valuable items, including a Plasma TV, mobile phones, clothes, car battery and bracelets were carted away from residence of one Alhaja Ibiyeye, located beside Al-Ikhlas Nursery and Primary School, Wara, Gerewu area of Ilorin. The victim is reportedly a Deputy Director at Staff Development College, Ilorin. An eyewitness revealed that the robbers operated for about three hours on victim's house before they bolted away in the white Toyota Camry.

The car got demobilised opposite Hakksat Motors, Asa Dam Road, Ilorin. "It was in the process of fleeing with the stolen items evacuated from the car on a commercial motorcycle that the robbers were apprehended alongside the okada rider that had wanted to convey them to safety," the witness said. The suspects were also said to have made an attempt to escape arrest as soon as they sighted men of the Adewole D Division Police Station.

It was also gathered that a mob which gathered at the scene of the incident descended on the three suspects and even attempted setting them ablaze, but for the timely intervention of policemen. Despite the plea by the suspected okada rider for sympathy from the crowd, he was mercilessly beaten and drenched in his own blood.

Speaking with journalists, a neighbour of the victim who craved anonymity said that the victim came to her shop to inform her that she had been robbed and her car and belongings taken away. "She requested that I help her call her son also alert the nearest police station," the neighbour said.