Police arrest six for alleged murder of Keke Marwa operator, recover weapons

Oeratives attached to the Zone 2 police command Onikan, Lagos have arrested six suspects over their alleged involvement in the death of one Sakiru Bashiru, a commercial tricycle rider who was shot dead at Mosalashi bus-stop in Alagbado area of Lagos.

The suspects identified as Kehinde Oladipo, Kofoworola Olanipekun, Nurudeen Oseni, Balogun Afeez, Efunogbon Adedeji and Eyebiokin Adewale were arrested after the Assistant Inspector General of Police received a petition of assault and malicious damage.

Parading the suspects alongside other notorious suspects at the Zone 2 police command, Assistant Inspector General of Police, Lawal Shehu, noted that the suspects were arrested sequel to a petition he directed the Commander Zonal Intervention Squad (ZIS) to investigate discreetly.

“The efforts of the team paid off when they swung into action and moved to Alagbado area of Lagos where the suspects were apprehended. During investigation, the suspects confessed to belonging to a group of Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) under the leadership of one Bakare Taofeek, a.k.a Olori, who hired them as thugs to take over a tricycle garage at Moshalashi bus-stop, Alagbado. During their invasion, one Shakiru Bashiru a commercial tricycle rider was shot dead while some sustained bullets injuries,” he added.

The police recovered five locally-made double/single barrel guns; four pump action guns, 23 live cartridges, two cutlasses, one expanded cartridge and assorted charms from the suspects. The police boss noted that “investigation is in progress and effort is still on to make more arrest and recover more arms and ammunitions. All suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigation is concluded”.

According to one of the suspects, 38-year-old Oladipupo Kehinde, he said: “I am from Alagbado. We were fighting over Keke Maruwa. I went to work for my boss and at the park I was asked for ticket and I told them I have nothing to do about ticket. My response did not go well with the ticketing officers, so trouble started. During the crisis, we killed one Shakiru Bashiru at Moshalashi bus-stop.”

Recounting how the incident happened, another suspect, Kofoworola Olaonipekun, said: “My boss Olori was fighting to take over a keke maruwa garage. When I got to the park that day, I met so many people there and I saw that there were a lot of maruwa (tricycles).

Olori said we had work to do. He later asked me to meet him at Odo Pako. Before I went to meet him at Odo Pako, I received a call from a customer before I came back, they had finished fighting. So I heard that Terror was killed. I was still with my boss Olori, and colleagues Adigun, Sikiru and White when police arrived the scene, arrested us and collected four guns from me. We use the guns for security work. The guns were used at the garage, we killed “Terror”. We are six that have been arrested but our boss is yet to be arrested”.

Meanwhile, the Oyo State police command yesterday paraded 29 suspected members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) for allegedly fomenting trouble across the state during and after the inauguration ceremony of the newly elected governor of Oyo, Seyi Makinde.

The Commissioner of Police, Shina Olukolu, while briefing the press on security development in the state, said a team of Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) attached to the state command who were detailed across the city, accosted some hoodlums identified as NURTW members and in the process of conducting search, some dangerous weapons such as guns with live cartridges, criminal charms as well as weeds suspected to be Indian hemp were recovered from them.

Looking into the statistics of armed robbery cases from the Oyo State Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) between January 1, 2019 to June 1, 2019, The Guardian gathered that 180 cases were brought before the table of SARS Oyo, which led to the arrest of 277 suspects together with 37 criminal weapons, 3,585 live cartridges and 16 vehicles recovered, while 170 of the suspects were charged to court.