The two robbery suspects, Bukola Adeoye and Rotimi Adeyeye, who allegedly escaped from the custody of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS)of the Ondo State Police Command, Akure were alleged to have charmed the officers on duty to escape.
PUNCH Metro had reported that suspects were arrested for robbery in Akure some weeks ago and were kept in the custody of SARS, but later escaped with handcuffs.
A girlfriend of one of the suspects, Loveth Ogbu, who was arrested by the police, told our correspondent at the command headquarters, Akure, on Wednesday that she never knew her boyfriend was a robber.
Ogbu was paraded alongside five other robbery suspects who were alleged to be members of Adeyeye and Adeoye’s gang.
Ogbu, a beer parlour operator, said she used to live with Adeyeye in Akure and when she asked her boyfriend what he did for a living, he threatened to kill her if she told anybody.
She said, “I am Rotimi’s (Adeyeye) girlfriend. We lived together in the Ijoka area of Akure. I did not know that he was an armed robber until he was arrested by policemen. The policemen told me that he and his friend, Bukola ( Adeoye ) were armed robbers.
“When they were in police custody, his elder brother, Barrister, gave two of them juju (charm) to use on the policemen on duty. He also helped them to remove the handcuffs after they escaped.
“They used the juju on the policemen at the SARS so that they could escape. The policemen on duty were hypnotised, so they were able to escape.”
However, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Gbenga Adeyanju , who paraded the suspects, said Adeyeye and Adeoye, after escaping from the SARS custody, moved to Ore in the Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State, “where they continued their criminal activities.”
He further stated that it was Adeyeye’s lover, Ogbu that assisted the police to know the whereabouts of the two robbery suspects.
The commissioner explained that when they went to the hideout, the suspects engaged policemen in a shootout and Adeoye was shot, while Adeyeye escaped again.
He added that Adeoye later died at a hospital following the injury sustained in the gun duel.
Adeyanju said, “On July 17, 2018, detectives received information that the escaped armed robbery suspects, Bukola Adeoye and Rotimi Adeyeye were taking cover in the house of one Loveth Ogbu, and she was arrested.
“During interrogation, she confessed that the escaped armed robbery suspects were in Ore. Based on the confession, the police arrested one Felix Eteti, who was a member of the gang.
“Detectives trailed the robbers to Christ Foundation Primary School Ore and on sighting the detectives, the robbers opened fire on them. During the exchange of gunfire, One of the armed robbery suspects, Bukola Adeoye, sustained gunshot injury and died a few hours after being admitted in a hospital.”