Robbery suspects cut bars, escape from police cell

Two of the robbery suspects, who were arrested while they were operating
on Iju Road, in the Agege area of Lagos, have escaped from the police
cell.
It was learnt that 3 suspected members of the gang, who reportedly attacked
and robbed a hotel and some residences of Sands Avenue, off Iju Road,
had been handed over to the Pen Cinema Police Division, before two of
them escaped from the cell.
It was gathered that policemen, who were on duty on the fateful day, had
been arrested, while the fleeing suspects are yet to be captured.
According to reports, on Sunday, August 9, at about 2am, about 10 armed
robbers, invaded the area, and robbed a hotel and some private homes and
they carted away money and valuables from the hotel lodgers, workers, and
other places during the operation.
It was gathered that men of the Oodua Peoples’ Congress, OPC, who were
the local vigilance group in the area, however, apprehended 3 of the
robbers and took them to the Pen Cinema Police Division.
It was there that the three robbery suspects, identified as Dare Drain,
Akeem AK, and Lekan Student, were locked up in the cell by the policemen
on duty.
It was gathered that on Wednesday evening, two of the suspects however, cut
through the burglar bars in the cell, and escaped from custody.
Victims of the robbery and the OPC men, who were aggrieved by the
development, were said to have been invited by a policemen to the
station who pacified them and assured them that the robbers would be re-
arrested.
When PUNCH Metro visited Sands Avenue on Tuesday, the manager
of the hotel, which was robbed, declined to give any comment.
However, one of the workers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said
the robbers carted away a huge amount of money and also injured the
hotel’s guard.
He added that the robbers raped some of the hotel’s female workers, who
had yet to resume work.
He said:
“The robbery lasted for more than an hour. We were helpless. The
robbers overpowered our security guard and injured him.
“They carted away valuables. They raped some of our female
workers during the operation. I was told that the OPC men later
caught three of them and took them to the police station.”
Speaking with PUNCH Metro , the OPC coordinator in the area, who
did not want his name in print, said they were taken aback when the police
in the Pen Cinema station told them that two of the suspects escaped from the
cell.
He added that the suspects, who had yet to be re-arrested, raped some of
their victims during the operation, including a 13-year-old.
He said,:
“The security man at the hotel, who is our member, recognised one
of the robbers and led us to his place, where he was arrested. The
man confessed to taking part in the operation. His name is Dare
Drain, and he was caught in the Idi-Agbon area of Ifako.
“He was the one who took the OPC men to arrest the other two. The
three that were caught on Sunday were taken to the police station.
“It was on Wednesday that information got to us that Drain and
Akeem have escaped from the cell. We were shocked at the
development. The DPO then invited us, and pleaded with us to assist
the police with information to re-arrest them, adding that the
policemen on duty had been detained.
“But as we speak, we have not got them. What the police told us was
that the robbers cut the burglar bars, and escaped from the cell. The
robbers, apart from carting away money, also raped their victims.
“The robbers were led by Dare Drain, he and his boys had
earlier come to Tarkwa Crescent, before the Sands Avenue incident.”
It was learnt from a source that the robbery suspects lurked around Oju
Irin area in Agege mostly at night.
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Patricia Amadin,
however, said in a text message to Punch that there was no truth in the
incident.

Punch