Johnson, Ahmed and Femi

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Moments after his mother's death in 2004, Johnson went into her room and found the sum of N800,000. But rather than bring the discovery to the knowledge of his seven elder siblings, he kept it to himself. Unfortunately, the said sum became the root of the evil that has since befallen him as a guest of the Federal Special Anti Robbery Squad Adeniji Adele, Lagos, where he is awaiting trial for armed robbery.

Johnson, who has two elder siblings in the United States of America, said, "I have an OND in Business Administration from Kebbi State Polytechnic and I am preparing for my HND.

Awaiting trial with Johnson are two other suspects, including 22-year-old Ahmed Akalejaye, an alumnus of one of the nation's federal government colleges awaiting admission into the university. "I am the last of seven children and live with my family in Ilorin. My mother is still alive, but my father is late. Two of my elder siblings live abroad, while two of them work in Ilorin and the remaining one is married."

The oldest of them, 27-year-old Femi Feyisayo, said he was seeking admission into the Kwara State Polythenic at the time he was arrested. He said, "I am the third of four siblings. I live with my family in Ondo State. I only came down to Illorin because I was seeking admission into Kwara State Polythenic. My father is a farmer while my mum is a trader."

The trio had begun their journey to infamy when Johnson lost his mother after a brief illness in 2004. "I was the only child living with her at the time. After her death, I discovered about N800,000 p in her room," he said.

With his mind set on making the money his only, Johnson said nothing to his older ones even when they all came for the burial. He started spending the money in bits until he decided to leave Kebbi for Ilorin and move in with his childhood friend, Ahmed, with whom he grew up with in Jos. That, he felt, was the only way he could spend the money without arousing suspicion from his siblings.

"I told Ahmed that I had some of my mother's money with me and that I wanted do something with it. He advised that we set up a barbing salon. We started looking around for a suitable place," he recalled. While the search lasted, they ran into another friend, Demola, who on learning about the money advised that they should buy a car with it and resell it within a few months.

Demola's idea appealed to Johnson and he decided to buy 1996 model of Toyota Camry for N600,000. "After a while, we discovered that it was a stolen car and it didn't have valid documents. We confronted Demola and he advised us to sell the car to a friend of his called Shina whom he said dealt in stolen cars. We sold the car and decided to get another one by armed robbery," said Ahmed.

Their victim was a single working lady. "We only noticed her because of her car. She was driving a Honda."

The three budding robbers trailed the unsuspecting woman to her home and discovered that her compound had no fence. They then spent three days monitoring her movement. "On the fourth day, we went to her house around 7pm. She was not there, so we had to hang around until about 8.30pm when she returned," Ahmed said. They waited till she climbed the staircase that led into her apartment.

Johnson said, "I went in with Femi while Ahmed kept watch outside. I held an axe while Femi had a gun. The lady had not locked her door, so we burst in. Femi showed her the bullets in the gun so that she would know we meant business.

"The terrified woman pleaded for mercy. I collected her car keys while Femi took her phone. It was a Nokia camera phone.

"I drove the car to where we would meet Shina. We called and told him that we had a car to sell and he said we should meet at a nearby junction." Johnson said.

Femi insisted it was their first robbery operation. While he denied being a cultist, he said the gun he used was rented for N3,000 from a cultist at the Kwara State Polythenic, Ilorin. "We made an initial deposit of N1,500 and told him that we would pay the rest later," Femi said. Femi was arrested as he came out of an eatery on May 5, 2009, while his accomplices were arrested at a naming ceremony the following day.

The Commissioner of Police, Federal Special Anti Robbery Squad, Alhaji Jubril Adeniji, said FSARS being a special unit worked together with all the commissioners of state police commands. Depending on the nature of the case and the discretion of the DIG, the FSARS could be involved in any armed robbery case in the country like in this instance. He also said the suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigation was concluded.

He advised the public to be wary of the movements of suspicious people around their homes. "It is clear that there is always surveillance is always done before any robbery takes place. People should be suspicious of strange faces hovering around their abode and report such people to the police. We are prepared to carry the war to robbers and ensure a crime-free situation at all times," he said.