FESTAC Bank Robbery Suspect Arrested With 86 Bullets (Photos)

The police in Lagos have arrested a suspect, Akiri-

Kemepamini Wisdom, who allegedly participated in the

bank robbery in the FESTAC Town area of the state on

Tuesday, October 13.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the 32-year-old suspect and one

Diokoro Chinedu, were apprehended by the Igando Police

Division last Tuesday along the LASU-Iba Road, while 86

bullets and an AK-49 rifle were recovered from them.

Our correspondent had reported on Wednesday, October

14, that the robbery gang stormed two commercial banks

in the FESTAC Town area on the fateful day, during which

a mother and her child were shot dead.

According to the police, Kemepamini-Wisdom and

Chinedu, who were on an unregistered motorcycle, were

arrested during a stop-and-search, while a third suspect,

also on the motorcycle, escaped. A bag was said to have

been recovered from them.

It was gathered that apart from the ammunition and the

rifle, other items found in the bag were a Nigerian Army

cap, a T-shirt with the inscription, ‘Gallant Patrol’, and the

sum of N134,675.

Speaking with PUNCH Metro, Wisdom, who hails from the

Ese Odo Local Government Area of Ondo State, said he and

the runaway suspect were given an instruction by their

boss, identified simply as TK , to take the bag to a man,

whose name he claimed not to know.

He said, “I am a fisherman. It was my friend, Kinikini ,

who carried the bag. We were told by our boss to deliver

the bag to another man. I am an errand boy to the gang

leader. He and his boys stay in the creeks. He has many

guns and I do not know how many he uses for operation.

“They usually give me about N4,000 for such delivery. Now

that I have been arrested, I know I am dead because they

will be trailing me thinking I have leaked their secrets to

the police.”

Chinedu, however, denied being aware of the contents of

the bag, saying he was just a victim of circumstances.

The Imo State indigene added that if he was aware of what

his passengers were carrying, he would not have taken

them.

He said, “I am an okada rider in Victory Estate, in the Iba

area. I picked the two men around Monkey Village bus

stop. They said I should take them to Iyana School. When

we got there, they said I should take them to Igando.

“On the way, we met policemen on stop-and-search. If I

knew they had such weapons in their bag, I wouldn’t have

stopped for the policemen, but I didn’t know what was in

the bag. When the policemen asked them what was inside

the bag, they couldn’t answer.

“When one of the policemen touched the bag, he said

what he touched felt like a gun. I told the policeman to

hold them responsible because they owned the bag and

that I was just an okada rider.

“The police have searched my house but they didn’t find

anything. I am innocent. If God should save me from this

trouble, I will never ride okada again.”

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni,

who paraded the suspects, said they were assisting the

police with investigations.

He said, “They actually attempted to drop the bag and run

away, but they were arrested. One of them is an errand

boy to the kingpin of the gang that carried out the bank

robbery in FESTAC recently. He is helping us with our

investigations.”