Four suspected serial killers have been arrested by men of the Ogun State Police Command for allegedly killing a Point-of-Sale terminal operator, Abiodun Odebunmi, and a Uber driver, Idowu Ademiluyi.
The suspects, identified as Kehinde Jelili, aka Oluomo, Abiodun Akinola, Johnson Fakeye, and Jamiu Akinola, allegedly set ablaze Odebunmi’s remains after stealing N4m from him.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, who confirmed the incident in a statement on Thursday, said the suspects were members of a syndicate which specialised in robbing PoS and Uber operators in the state.
Oyeyemi said the suspects were arrested on Wednesday following a report lodged at the Onipanu divisional police headquarters by a PoS attendant, Aanu Salaudeen.
The PPRO explained that Salaudeen, who worked for Odebunmi, reported that her boss left their office at Aparadija the previous day to meet a customer.
Odebunmi was said to have gone missing since then.
“According to Salaudeen, they had earlier done a transaction of N1.5m with the person who invited her boss the previous day, and it was the same person who called her boss to meet him at Oju-Ore to do another PoS transaction of N4m.
“Upon the report, the policemen at Onipanu commenced investigation into the sudden disappearance of the man. Their efforts paid off when the burnt body of the victim was discovered in an uncompleted building at the Arobieye area of Ota without any trace of his assailants.
“The CSP Femi Olabode-led homicide team, in compliance with the CP’s directive, embarked on technical and intelligence-based investigation, which led them to Otun Ekiti in Ekiti State, where the suspect was discovered to be hibernating.
“On getting to Ekiti, the suspect got wind of the presence of the detectives and quickly escaped to Offa in Kwara State.
“With determination to apprehend him, the team continued trailing him and they later got information that he was in Benin Republic, where he had gone to attend the court session of Chief Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igboho, and that he would soon be coming to Nigeria.
“Having got the information about the day he would be returning to Nigeria, the team laid ambush for him and got him arrested at a boundary community between Ogun and Lagos states.
“On interrogation, Kehinde Jeili, who claimed to be a native of Apomu in Osun State, confessed to killing the victim.
“He confessed further that he deliberately lured the victim to Ota, where he and his gang members were waiting for him with the money he was asked to bring, having transacted a N1.5m business with him the previous day, and that they cut him to death with machetes after collecting the money from him. He stated further that they burnt the victim’s body in order to cover their tracks,” Oyeyemi stated.
The PPRO explained that the suspect confessed that his gang always targeted Uber and PoS operators.
On how they operate, the suspect reportedly said one of them would pretend as a passenger and lure a Uber driver to where his members were waiting; as soon as he got to the place, the driver would be hacked to death and his car stolen.
“Also, the suspect stated further that he and his gang attacked another victim, one Idowu Ademiluyi, at the Itori area and snatched his Toyota Corolla, having cut him with machetes to the point of death.
“The arrest of Kehinde Salihu led detectives to their receiver, Abiodun Akinola, who is a standby buyer of every proceed of their crime.
“The confessional statements of the duo led to the arrest of the other two suspects, Johnson Fakeye and Akinola Jamiu, at Atan-Ota and Owode-Yewa, respectively,” Oyeyemi added.
Three vehicles — a Toyota Camry, a Toyota Corolla and a Toyota Rave 4 — whose owners were murdered, were recovered from the gang.
The police spokesman noted that the investigation which led to the arrest of the suspects lasted for three months.
He said, “The Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun, has appealed to members of the public to always disclose their movement to at least one trusted person whenever they have cause to keep an appointment with an unknown person.”