The arrested suspects
An army robbery syndicate successfully broke into a new generation bank in Ondo state but were stunned by their discovery after wasted desperate efforts.
Four suspects who were alleged to be members of a gang of robbers who recently broke into a branch of an old generation bank in Ilututu area of Ondo State, have said they were disappointed not finding a dime in the bank’s vault.
The suspects, who were rounded up last weekend, by operatives of the Inspector General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team, SIRT, in Ondo State, were said to have broken into the bank with the aid of a security guard, who had worked with the bank.
Vanguard gathered that the guard, who was fired last year over a yet to be known reason, was said to have approached a member of the gang, Michael Mipera, a native of Ajapa in Eseodo Local Government Area of Ondo State, with the idea of robbing the bank, as there was less security around the bank at night.
Sources disclosed that, Mipera, after conducting his own survey around the bank, invited two of his friends, Thankgod Sugha and Ebibo Winoh, from his home town to Ilututu and rented an apartment for them. He was also said to have invited six militants based at a camp in Ijegemo-Isheri Oshun, Lagos State, headed by one TK, a notorious pipeline vandal and bank robber.
The hoodlums from Lagos, who were led by one Bright, were said to have supplied the gang with two Ak 47 rifles and additional expertise on how to break into bank. They were also said to have struck the bank on December 24, 2015, a day before Christmas, but ended up finding no money in the bank's vault.
Vanguard was reliably informed that the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, had received an intelligence report on the gang’s activities and he deployed operatives of the SIRT, headed by CSP Abba Kyari to Ondo State, to track and apprehend the suspects.
Sources informed a correspondent that a motorcycle operator who runs errand for one of the suspects was first apprehended and he led the operatives in arresting four of suspects including one of the militants from Lagos.
The suspects who were identified as Ebibo Winoh 23, Michael Mipera 22, Thankgod Sugha 24, and Idowu Sobijoh 23, narrated their separate roles in the operation and how they joined the gang. Winoh and Sugha confessed that Mipera invited them for the job, but Sobijoh disclosed that the recent disruption of their operations in Ijegemo by some soldiers made him venture into armed robbery.
According to him, “ I have never gotten myself involved into any bank robbery before. This was my first attempt and it wasn’t completely my intention. It was the soldiers who stopped our operation at Ijegemo that forced me into it. The soldiers were demanding we pay them the sum of N5million before we could resume operation.
"We offered them N3million but they refused. While we were broke, Bright got a call from Mipera about the Ilututu bank operation and he mobilized six of us to go for the operation. I didn’t get to Ilututu on time because I was very broke but when I got to Ondo State, I was informed that the operation went successful but they didn’t get any money from the bank. Unfortunately, I was arrested on my way back to my village in Ajapa, “ he narrated.
The suspects are currently being prepared for prosecution in court.
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