MR
Dada Adeyeri is from Ikare-Akoko, Ondo State but is domiciled in
Ijoko-Ota, Ogun State with his two wives and children. A true regional
migrant, one would say. But another thing Adeyeri was good at regionally
was stealing, as he used to traverse states in the South West in quest
to steal motorcycles. And he was perpetrating the act in the dead of the
night.
After
making a lot of money from the operations, Adeyeri decided to up his
ante by paying a deposit to procure an English pistol in 2013. But
before he could pay the balance, he was arrested and charged to court.
After a short remand in prison, Adyeri perfected his bail, came out of
prison and decided to complete the gun transaction.
As
he was planning this, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Ogun State got a
wind of intention. Led by the Officer-In-Charge, Superintendent of
Police Mohammed Tijani, arrested him on May 16 at a hotel where the gun
was being handed to him.
Also
nabbed were one Taiye Ayo (27) who used to help him take stolen
motorcycles to Republic of Benin for sale; Agboola Muyideen, whom the
suspect also fingered as helping in the sale of the stolen goods; and
his two wives, one of who was helping him to write and stamp fake
documents for the stolen motorcycles. He was said to have rented two
flats at Ijoko-Ota – one for each wife. Recovered from him were one
Baretta pistol, four motorcycles, fake documents and stamps.
Speaking
with Crime Reports at Ogun SARS recently, the 37-year-old suspect, who
said he was running a cold room business before his arrest, admitted
that before he established it, “I was into stealing motorcycles. I am
not limited to Ogun State but I go round the South West states to carry
out my operations, usually at night. I used something called ‘spoon’ to
unlock the neck of the okada in order to steal.
“I
stole 10 motorcycles at Ilaro and also went to Ore, Ondo State to do
same. I cannot say precisely the number I stole there. Whenever I
brought them to Sango, I would give them to one boy to take them to
Cotonou to sell for me. I also used to give some to an okada repair
repairer at Ota to sell for me.
Adeyeri
also revealed that he had once been to prison on the same criminal
offence. According to him, “I stole a motorcycle at Ilaro. My barber
came to me and asked me to allow him the use of the okada, unknown to
him that it was stolen. I obliged him. Unfortunately, he rode the
motorcycle to Ilaro and he was seen with it. He was arrested and he
brought the police to my house, telling them that he got the okada from
me.
He
spoke further: “Before my arrest, I deposited N40,000 with one Kangor
for an English pistol, with which I believed I could work better. But
when I returned from prison, I realized that crime does not pay so I
decided not to pay the balance for the gun but to collect my money back.
I even lost Kangor’s number. Since Kangor knew me through Ayo, he
called him and said the gun was ready with 12 rounds of ammunition. He
said that I had lost the N40,000 deposit and should come with the whole
amount for the gun procured for me. I agreed.
“I
knew within me that I was not ready to go ahead with the deal but I
told him to let me see what he had, so that I could use the opportunity
to get my money back. This was because he went to my wives during the
time I was detained and collected N50,000 from them in the guise of
giving it to the police for my release. He also collected a motorcycle
from them and sold it without bringing the proceeds. That made me to
make up my mind to move away from him.
“Ayo
suspected he wanted to set me up but I believed he would not do that.
When we got to him, I saw a man he described as the gun dealer. Kangor
offered me Indian hemp which I refused. We went inside a hotel but as we
sat, police came in and rounded us up.”
He
admitted starting the set-up of his cold room with proceeds from the
sale of the stolen motorcycles before his arrest. But he said that on
his return from prison, he decided to go to his cooperative society to
borrow N800,000 to complete it, saying that he used the cold room as a
surety.
In
Ayo’s confession, he said: “I am an okada rider. I knew Kangor as omo
onile and I used to carry him to sites at Sango-Ota to collect money
from those constructing their buildings. I used to get my share of the
proceeds.
“I
also used to pick Adeyeri as a passenger and he told me he needed a
gun. I told him I didn’t know anything about such a thing but promised
to ask Kangor. I linked both of them with each other and Kangor promised
to help him. Adeyeri later told me he had deposited N40,000.
Ayo
told Crime Reports that he had helped Adeyeri to sell about five stolen
motorcycles in Republic of Benin and only suspected they were being
stolen after the third one was given to him. His excuse for continuing
to work with Adeyeri was that he needed to survive and was getting money
from the partnership to feed his family. “He was giving me N5,000 on
each bike that I helped him sell,” Ayo further disclosed.
The
third suspect, Muyideen, denied collecting over 15 motorcycles from
Adeyeri, saying that the suspect was only trying to set him up because
he called in the police after he brought a second motorcycle to his shop
for sale.
Commenting
on the arrest, the Police Public Relations Officer, Ogun State, Muyiwa
Adejobi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said that it was an
indication that the command had a good security networking to curb
crime.
“In
line with this achievement, the state Commissioner of Police, Ikemefuna
Okoye, has directed officers and men of the command to work hard to
sustain the existing networking on ground so as to provide adequate
security lives and property to the people of the state. Investigation is
still on and the suspects will be charged to court after conclusion,”
the PPRO added.
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