2 Lagos bureau-de-change operators kidnapped, murdered, dumped in septic tank

Operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad(SARS), Lagos State Police Command, have arrested three members of a gang that abducted and murdered two bureau-de-change operators last month in Ikorodu area of Lagos.

The gang killed them after collecting N1.6 million from their victims: Alhaji Yakubu Musa and Alhaji Hassan Umoru, both from Kebbi State; and then dumped the corpses in the septic tank of an abandoned property in Odogunyan area of Ikorodu.

When information of their disappearance reached the Police, Lagos State Police Command boss, CP Zubairu Muazu, directed the officer-in-charge of SARS, CSP Peter Gana, to investigate.

The payment of N1.6 million was traced to a bank account holder named Oluwafunke, who was subsequently arrested on March 23.

Although she admitted during an interrogation to have been paid N100,000 for releasing her account for the transaction, she, however, said she was unaware of the circumstances surrounding the transaction.

She mentioned one Olarewaju Oluwatosin as the person that paid the money into her account. Consequently, 40-year-old Oluwatosin, an Osun State-born man, was arrested.

His arrest further led to those of two suspected members of the gang identified as Mayowa Olaeuni, aka General and Babatunde Idris, 26.

Three guns and a cutlass were recovered from the gang, while three others are still on the run according to the Police.

During preliminary investigation, operatives discovered that the gang, most of which members are of the Eiye cult, had used the abandoned building as shallow graves where members of rival cult groups killed during fights were buried.

Among those suspected to have been buried at the shallow graves were two prominent members of the Aiye cult. One of their identities was given as Terminator, a suspected leader of the Aiye cult.

‘How we killed the BDC operators’

One of the suspects, Oluwatosin, an Electrical Electronics graduate, said: “The initial intention was never to kill them, but to collect money from them. Pencil (fleeing suspected leader of the gang) brought the suggestion of robbing the operators.

“Both of us planned the deal for six days. He said I should convince the operators to come that an Alhaja wanted to buy N10,000 dollars. It was on a Thursday.

“They came in a bike and called us from Trailer Park Bus Stop, Odogunyan. Pencil directed a motorbike man to take the operators to a boys’ quarters. By the time I joined them, I met the victims lying down with their hands bound. Pencil asked me to lie on the floor too, so as to make it look like I am not part of them.

“Pencil told them that the Alhaja they(operators) came to meet was owing him N10,000 dollars and that he and members they had come to collect the money. They started beating the operators. I also received my fair share of the beating to make it look real since they(operators) knew me.

“The operators begged Pencil to stop beating them, that they would give them money for their freedom. Pencil instructed them to transfer the money into one Femi’s account. But when he called to know if the amount had been paid, the account holder said no.

“At that point, he (Pencil) changed the game plan. He threatened to kill me alongside the operators if he did not receive alert on the payment. He said he suspected I was playing pranks by asking the person at the other end not to release the money to him.

“He said if he did not receive the alert by 4.55p.m., he would kill all of us. At that point, one of the operators suggested that another bank account be given to him to transfer the amount into.

“That was when I contacted Olufunke, the nurse that treated me when I was sick. She provided her account where N1.6 million was paid into.

“By 8p.m. same day, Pencil and Kenneth tore the operators’ clothes, used it to cover their mouths. When I asked why, Pencil asked if I wanted to teach him his job. He took one of the operators to the back and later sent for the second one.

“He burnt their clothes, shoes and phones and said he would kill them because they would identify me to the Police if allowed to go. He took one of them to a corner killed him and sent for the other. By the time he came to where I was, he said he had settled the case and threatened to kill us if anything that transpired there was heard outside.

“He detained me there till the next day, from where we went to Itamaga side by 6a.m. We stayed there until 9a.m. before he instructed me to call the woman in whose account the N1.6 million was paid.

“Pencil called his motorbike man to take Kenneth and I to the woman’s place, where she gave us N500,000. She gave us additional N500,000 and a balance of N470,000. I got N340,000 as my share of the loot.”