Andrew Aihomogbe
If I had listened to my wife, I would not have found myself in this difficult situation. My wife told me that she had a dream in which she claimed to have seen me being paraded in handcuffs by the police. She informed me that the case was so serious that I was killed at the end of the day. She warned me to be careful.”

That was the confession of Andrew Aihomogbe, who was a few days ago paraded by the police in Lagos State for allegedly robbing a bureau de change market in the Republic of Benin and killing some people in the process.

Andrew and his gang had successfully carried out the operation and had sporadically shot into different directions to scare away the crowd in Benin Republic and found their way into Nigeria. But men of the Lagos State Police Command Anti Robbery Squad swooped on the gang at the Lagos end of Lagos-Badagry Expressway.

The other arrested suspects were Kingsley Okafor, Njoku Emmanuel, Martins Agbor, Chidibemu Uzigbe, Obinna Amechi Agbor, Chidibemu Uzigbe, Obinna Amechi and Edgar Peter.

The suspects had, on the 30 September, 2010, invaded the market in Krake Village in the Republic of Benin and allegedly killed some of the operators at the market.

The commissioner of police in charge of the Lagos State police command, Marvel Akpoyibo, while speaking with Crime and Security, on the arrest of the trans-border armed robbers, stated that “the arrest was as a result of a massive and well coordinated operation.”

He further explained that the police in the state, on being informed of the armed robbery incident in Benin Republic, cordoned off the entire perimeter of the forest, believed to be harbouring the suspected armed robbers .

He added that “a total of 4 A K 47guns, 99 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition and a sum of N504,430 00 and another sum of one million six hundred and seventy three thousand francs (1 673,000 CFA, were recovered from the gang.

Andrew, who claimed to be a commercial bus driver in Lagos, said that he was induced into the crime by a citizen of the Niger Republic, who he identified as Suleiman Moshood. He stated that Moshood had informed him of the deal and directed him to recruit other members of the gang, which he admitted doing.

“ I was driving on a day when Moshood stopped me and informed me of the vulnerabiltiy of the bureau de change market in Benin Republic. He told me that unlike in Nigeria where operators hide their money, operators at Krake Market openly display cash tables.”

Andrew also confessed to Crime and Security that he had in the past, taken part in several armed robbery operations, in many parts of Nigeria. He, however, claimed to have stopped his engagement in robbery, when he bought a commercial bus, from the over N1,000,000 he received, after a robbery operation in Kogi State.

“We were formerly operating in Lagos and other neighbouring states, but at a point, we discoverd that it would be suicidal for us to operate in Lagos again because of the security measures put in place. It was at that point that a friend informed me about a market in the Republic of Benin. I recruited my boys and we stormed the market.”

The Comptroller in charge of the Benin Police, Celestine Guidime, while speaking during the official handing over of the arrested suspects to him by the Lagos state police boss, stated that capital punishment awaited the armed robbers, if they were convicted of killing some of the traders at the market.

Guidme stated that the law of Benin Republic stipulated death penalty for armed robbers who killed during robbery operations and that preliminary investigations by the Benin Police on the operation revealed that some people were killed during the infamous robbery operation.

The Benin Police boss also added that further investigations, which would not last for more than one month, would be conducted, so as to ascertain the roles of the arrested robbers as well as to capture their Benin Republic collaborators.

Andrew lamented to Crime and Security that he regretted not listening to his wife, who apparently saw a vision of his arrest and duly warned him. ”My wife did not know that I am into armed robbery and when she had the dream, she warned me about the kind of bus conductors that I employed to work with me, “the suspect bemoaned his fate.

A female accomplice identified as Nkiru Igboatu, who had attempted to rescue a stranded member of the gang , whowas identified as her boyfriend, was also arrested by the policemen.

The police boss also stated that follow up investigations conducted by men of the Special Anti Robbery Squad of the state police command led to the arrest of another member of the gang, identified as Arinze Oyiloha.

Arinze has since reportedly confessed to being a member of the gang while he also admitted participating in several armed robbery operations by the gang in several parts of Nigeria.