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By Bisi LAWAL
Operatives of the Oyo State Police Command have arrested armed robbers that killed a retired Permanent Secretary, Ms. Olaitan Gbenle, in her house in Ibadan.
Police also apprehended the suspect who bought the vehicles stolen from the deceased’s residence.
The suspects were identified as Olalekan Bello, Bisiriyu Olalekan, Simon Ojei and the buyer of the stolen vehicles, Femi Omisore. Two other suspects who went to the robbery operation with the gang are currently at large.
They confessed to robbing the deceased of her two cars and other valuables before they killed her by twisting her neck in order to protect the gang members, as the leader lives in her neighbourhood.
It will be recalled that Ms. Gbenle’s body was found dead on Friday, November 10, 2023, with her hands and legs tied. It was also discovered that after killing the retired Permanent Secretary, the assailants went away with her two vehicles, phones, Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards and other properties not immediately noticed.
The Commissioner of Police, Adebola Hamzat, who briefed journalists on the arrest of the suspects, said that the Monitoring Unit, led by its Commander, Olusola Aremu, began intelligence gathering which led to the discovery of the robbery gang leader, Bello.
His arrest led to those of Bisiriyu and Simon, and when interrogated, they confessed to committing the crime, telling police operatives that they killed retired Permanent Secretary because one of them, Bello, was living in the same community with her and she could recognise him. They also told the police about Omisore who bought the two stolen vehicles from them, who was immediately arrested.
Recovered from the suspects were two vehicles and a generating set belonging to the deceased.
Bello reportedly told his gang members about Ms. Gbenle living alone in her residence with two cars. He made them to know that they would get money and the two vehicles as their loot. Bello was said to have known about the deceased because he was living close to her at Agbofieti Community, Idi Ishin, Ibadan.
It was learnt that on arrival at the victim’s house, the suspects scaled the fence around her residence through the backside, cut the burglary proof of one of the windows, marched in and met her watching TV. They tied her hands to her back and also her legs and collected her ATM cards and car keys. When she shouted to raise alarm, they gagged her mouth with a piece of cloth. They also took her plasma TV and big generating set.
The gang leader, Bello, then reportedly told others that their deed would be exposed to the community if she was left alive. They turned back and twisted the woman’s neck, killing her instantly.
They were said to have proceeded to Lagos with the vehicles immediately and sold them to the receiver, Omisore, for N2.3 million.
It was learnt that the suspects had only collected N800,000 out of the money before their arrests. During interviews with the suspects, it was revealed that all of them, except the receiver, had been prison inmates. It was learnt that the command had handled Simon’s cases three times in connection with robbery.
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