“I Made N10,000 From Carrying Robbers” – Okada Rider.

Twenty year old Mr. Oluwole Sunday is not your regular commercial motorcyclist – the only thing "commercial" about his okada business is that while other okada riders transport members of the public from one point to another in the Lagos metropolis, he made his money by transporting robbers on their daily operations, but unfortunately, that didn't last.

His "business" was shut down recently by the police in Lagos during an outing with a member of his gang in Egbeda area of Lagos.

According to Sunday, a father of one, he met his accomplice, 18-year-old Ahmed Musa in a relaxation joint and having introduced himself as an okada rider, they contracted their criminal alliance.

But first, they needed a gun.

The Abeokuta, Ogun State indigene said,

"When we brought up the issue of a gun, we spoke with another friend we met at the same joint, Michael, and he said he could get us a gun.

"He took us to a bathroom in his father's house. The gun was hidden in a hole in the bathroom.

"The first time we went on an operation together, we were able to operate successfully that day on my motorcycle. We robbed many people. I was given N10, 000.

"This last operation, I was promised N20, 000 which is double the normal amount. I did not know that would be the day we would be caught. We had not even robbed anybody that day when we were arrested at Shasha in Egbeda."

Sunday's accomplice, Ahmed Musa, who wielded the gun and snatched bags and jewellery anytime they went out for operations, claimed that it was his first time ever going out with him.

Musa, an Ilorin, Kwara State indigene, said he had just finished his apprenticeship as a generator repairer last year and he realised there was no way he could afford to buy equipment to set up a shop.

He said,

"Hunger pushed me into robbery. I thought to myself that it is either I do this thing or I die of hunger. I stopped school at Senior Secondary One and my trade has not produced any money.

"We planned to target women bags and jewellery mostly the day we were arrested. I am not happy about becoming a robber. My family do not know what has happened to me."

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, said apart from Musa and Sunday, 15 other robbers who specialised in robbing Lagos residents on motorcycles were arrested in the last one week.

He said some of the robbers concentrated on people leaving banks with the hope that any bag they held must have money in it. According to him, the police impounded a motorcycle used by one of the suspects that had been modified for increased speed.

"During the operations that led to the arrest of the suspects, two of them engaged the police in a shootout and they were killed in the process," Owoseni said.

Culled from PUNCH