Three members of a robbery gang which invaded the house of a member of Oyo State House of Assembly, Honourable Waliu Adekunle on December 29, 2013, have been apprehended by police operatives from Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Oyo in Oyo State Police Command.

The names of those arrested were given as: Ismail Adebayo Oluwasegun (26); Oyeniran Oluwaseyi  and Amodu Garba.

Disclosing this to journalists during a press briefing recently, the state Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Indabawa, said that the men gained entrance into Hon. Adekunle’s house after the gate was left unlocked.

“When the suspected robbers gained entrance, they carted away cash, jewellery and handsets, which value is yet to be estimated, and escaped.

The incident was reported at Atiba police station. On receipt of the report, Oyo SARS operatives swung into action and on January 8, the armed robbers were sighted at Oroki area, Oyo town and were promptly arrested,” Indabawa said.

He added that they all confessed to the crime and indicted a leader of the gang, Lanre, who is at large, as the custodian of the arms used for the robbery, stating that efforts were on to nab him and recover the guns.

Speaking with Crime Reports, ‘Segun, who claimed to be an interior decorator and event planner, said he was invited for the robbery by his friend, Lanre Agunbiade. “We never knew the man was a member of the House of Assembly. Lanre called me and Seyi that he knew a rich man that we could rob and get money.

“I left Ogbomoso where I reside for Oyo and the three of us went to the man’s residence at about 8.30p.m., armed with only two guns. Lanre held one of the guns. We met the gate of the house open so we gained easy access. We met people in the sitting room and ‘arrested’ them.

“We collected their phones, money and jewellery and left. We were arrested by operatives of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Oyo/Ogbomoso annex before we were transferred to SARS, Ibadan. What happened was that we were in a restaurant. We were planning an operation when we were sighted by one of those who were in the Honourable’s house the day we went there for robbery operation.

“He discreetly left the restaurant and went to inform Oyo SARS. The operatives arrested us but Lanre is on the run. He is in custody of the guns we were using. He told us he got them from Cotonou in Republic of Benin. My share from the robbery operation was N100,000, ‘Segun narrated.

The second suspect, Seyi, also narrated his involvement thus: “I live in Ife. Segun is my friend and I used to visit him in Ogbomoso. He called me one day and said we should go and see someone in Oyo. We got there and I saw Lanre who told us that there was a job for us to do. He said there was a rich man we would go and rob to make some money.

“I have never done such a thing before. We went there and carried out the operation successfully. I was given N50,000. We were arrested some weeks after. All I am pleading for his mercy. I am married with two kids.”

The third suspect, Garba, from Ilorin, Kwara State said he did not follow them for the robbery operation but was a receiver of Samsung  and Nokia Lumia phones forcefully collected during the robbery and which were sold to him for N26,000.