By CHRISTOPHER OJI and ITORO GODWIN

A suspect, Monday Omoboye (aka alarm blow), who participated in Lekki and Ikorodu bank robberies, told reporters in Lagos yesterday that he got N2.8 million as his share.  He is a fisherman.

He said: “I am not a professional armed robber but a fisherman who also did bunkering.  I was invited by my friend, Akpan to join the gang because, I know the terrain very well. The main guys in the robbery are from Delta State. They just invited me and other boat drivers because we understand the water routes very well. If we are real robbers, we would have got more than what we got. We just waited for them to enter the bank after showing them the waterways. I got N400,000 in the Lekki robbery. I got another N400,000 in the first Ikorodu robbery. The real money I got was that of the last  Ikorodu robbery that messed us up. I got N2million.In Ishawo creek, people know me as either a bunkerer or a fisherman. I was not into crime until Akpan introduced me. I swear to God, if I had not gone into robbery, I would have been a free man. I curse the day I met Akpan.”

Omoboye and three other suspects were paraded by the outgoing Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Kayode Aderanti, who performed his last assignment before handing over to his successor, Mr. Fatai Owoseni.  A 15-man gang attacked Zenith Bank and First Bank in Ipakodo area of Ikorodu on June 24 this year, stealing millions of Naira.

The other suspects are Agbojule Bright, 25,  Monday Ikuesan and 20years old Promise Abiwa.

They confessed to have participated in various robberies both on waterways and highways across the country including the attack on First City Monument Bank in Lekki, Lagos early this year where three policemen and two civilians were killed.

Three exotic Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs)  were recovered from the Ikorodu bank robbery suspects.

According to Aderanti, Abiwa was arrested in Igbokoda, Ondo State. “On June 28, 2015, one of the key members of the gang, Monday Omoboye, was arrested in his hideout in Ikorodu. The boat operator was the one who handled the speedboat in both Lekki FCMB robbery and Wema Bank robberies on  June 1, 2015 and also  First Bank robbery on  June 24, 2015.

“On  June 29, 2015, at about 4pm, Bright was traced to another hideout and was arrested with the Lexus SUV which he bought from his own share of the loot, about N2million. On the same day, another gang members, Ikuesan was arrested,” Aderanti noted.

Eyewitnesses said the  First Bank robbery in Ikorodu fetched the suspects several millions of naira. In a bid to frustrate security operatives from successfully trailing them, the hoodlums set ablaze the three SUVs they used for the operation.

On the breakthrough, Crime Watch Today learnt that police were alerted by soldiers in Ondo who were on stop-and-search.  They accosted one of the suspects while travelling to his hometown in Okitikpupa, Ondo State.

During the search, bundles of new N1,000 notes with bank seals were found in his bag.