26th September, 2013
Police in Lagos State, southern Nigeria, have charged the suspected Lagos-based big time receiver of stolen vehicles from armed robbers, Kayode Haruna a.k.a. ‘K’, to court.
Haruna was charged to an Ikeja Magistrate’s Court 27 presided over by Mrs Oshodi Makanju on Wednesday.
The accused person was slammed with a 7-count charge bordering on conspiracy and receiving of stolen vehicles from armed robbers.
He was brought to the court room by the investigating police officer from the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Lagos State Police Command Sgt. Tashni Zeletus.
The charges were read before the court by the prosecutor Inspector Samson.
Haruna pleaded not guilty to all the charges and was granted bail by the president magistrate in the sum of N1 million with two sureties.
One of the sureties, according to the magistrate, must reside in his own house which must have Certificate of Occupancy (Cof O), while the sureties must show evidence of paying taxes to the government.
The matter was adjourned till 28 November, 2013 for mention.
Haruna was arrested after some robbery suspects named him as sponsor and receiver of the vehicles they snatched at gun point.
The accused, Haruna aka ‘K’ was arrested by the operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Lagos State Police Command led by Abba Kyari, a Superintendent of Police, SP.
Investigation revealed that the manhunt for the 40-year old suspect from Itakure in Ilorin Local Government Area of Kwara State, started since December last year after the SARS operatives arrested Ejike, a suspected robbery gang leader who allegedly led his gang to break into the prison in Shagamu, Ogun State.
Ejike and his gang allegedly confessed that Haruna was the major sponsor of their robbery operation and receiver of the vehicles snatched by the gang.
It was gathered that following the confession, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Police Command, Umar Manko, ordered Kyari to smoke out the suspect and recover all the vehicles he received from the robbers.
Kyari achieved this feat when he led his team to arrest the suspect in one of his hideouts in Ojo area of Lagos.
Haruna told P.M.NEWS an interview last weekend that he was actually a receiver of stolen vehicles from robbers but did not sponsor robbery operations.
He confessed he had received over 30 vehicles from robbers and sold them to car dealers and some private individuals.
He further confessed that he built and owned eight houses in with the proceeds of the stolen vehicles he sold.
According to the suspect who claimed to be a building Engineer, “I was arrested on July 5, 2013 because I bought stolen vehicles from robbers. I have bought 30 vehicles from them. I buy mainly Toyota products which include Jeeps. The robbers are Stanley, Dada, Yemi and Ejike.
“I started buying from them since last year. I bought Highlander Jeep from them for N1 million and Toyota for N300,000. I sold Toyota for N700,000 and Highlander for N1.7 million.
“I came across the robbers through one of my boys, Sola, who works at building site with me. He told me they were customs officers who bring in cars from Cotonou, Republic of Benin. So I started buying from them.”
Haruna added: “ I discovered that they were robbers when they brought a car with blood stains on the seat for me to buy. Though I bought the car, but since then, I stopped patronizing them. But I did not report to the police or any other law enforcement agency. I regretted having deals with armed robbers.”
—Josephine Odum-John