Four suspected members of the armed robbery gang which unleashed terror on commercial banks in the Agbara area of Ogun State last Thursday have confessed to carting away N28m during the operation.

PUNCH Metro gathered that the suspected gang members were arrested by the police in the Sapele area of Delta State.

Their correspondent learnt from a reliable police source that the suspects confessed in their statements that they were also responsible for the killings of seven operatives of the Department of
State Service on September 16, 2015.

It was learnt that the suspects, who were picked up by the Inspector General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team, engaged the policemen in a shootout during which another policeman was killed.

The robbers, numbering 40, had stormed four commercial banks in the Agbara area of Ogun State killing a corporal identified as Kadiri Aliyu, and making away with millions of naira from Zenith Bank.

It had also been reported that the robbers, who were clad in police and military uniforms, gained entry into the bank after blowing up the bank’s rotor doors with dynamite, sacking policemen inside the Armoured Personnel Carrier in the area, during which Aliyu was shot dead.

The source told PUNCH Metro on Sunday that the gang leader – identified as Kelly Fotor – told the police that the robbery was carried out by a combination of two gangs from Lagos and Delta states.

He said Fotor told the police that after the Thursday robbery, he divided the N28m between the two gangs before returning to his base in Sapele.

He said:

“The gang leader told the police that he and his boys made away with about N28m from the Agbara bank robbery. He said he had given N14m to the other gang he worked with in Ishawo, Ikorodu area of Lagos, before travelling to Sapele, Delta State, on Friday. 

The operatives tracked down the 35-year-old and three of his gang members on Saturday and he engaged the policemen in a heavy gunfire. The four robbers were eventually arrested after sustaining bullet injuries. 

The others actually escaped and they are currently hiding in Ondo and Delta states. One policeman was also shot dead in the shootout. The four suspects have started confessing. They are currently in a cell in Abuja as investigation is ongoing.”

The source added that the suspects, who admitted to the murder of the DSS operatives, said they buried the operatives in a vandals’ camp in the Ishawo area of Ikorodu. He said:

 “Fotor also narrated how his gang killed the DSS operatives in September. He said that the gang never intended to kill them. But as they were asking the operatives questions after abducting them, one of the vandals who had become drunk, came in and interrupted the interview, opening fire on the operatives. 

The suspect also described where the operatives were buried inside the vandals’ camp in Ishawo. But investigation is also ongoing, so other details are kept secret.”

The Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olabisi Kolawole, could not be reached for comments as her phone rang out.

The Ogun State Police spokesperson, DSP Muyiwa Adejobi, confirmed the arrest. He added that weapons were recovered from the suspects as efforts were on to get other members of the gang.