LAGOS MAY 13TH (URHOBOTODAY)-One of the suspects of Lekki Bank robbery, Ekelemo Kuete paraded among other three suspects at the Lagos State Police Command, Ikeja, Lagos on Wednesday told URHOBOTODAY that he was forced by the other suspected robbers to take part in the drastic robbery operation in which five people were killed.
.Kuete who said he is an indigene of Ondo State and an oil bunkerer at Arepo confessed that he was given N50,000 for his involvement in the deadly operation.
According to him,” We were 15 in number that went for that operation and we used two speed boats. Five of us stayed back in the boat at Lekki, while the other 10 went inside the bank. When they killed the policemen and two other civilians I queried them but they didn’t listen.
“I am the speed boat driver that took the armed robbery gang to Lekki on Mach 12, 2015. I didn’t want to go, they forced me, and after the operation, they gave me N50, 000. I have not gone for robbery operation before now; I am into oil bunkering in Arepo along Lagos Ibadan expressway, a community in Ogun state.
“I know they were robbers when the contracted me to use my speed boat to convey them through the waterways to Lekki. I make money from oil bunkering between N50, 000- N80, 000 each time I go to work.”
Addressing newsmen at Ikeja, Lagos State Police Commissioner, Mr. Kayode Aderanti disclosed that the four suspected robbers are gang leader, Duke Odogbo, 38, Lawrence Kingsley, 31, Ebi Tosan, 20, and Ekelemo Kuete, 30.
He said exhibits recovered from the suspects include a Honda Accord 2008 model car, military fez cap, phones and 130 expended ammunition.
He said during the robbery operation, five people were shot dead, three policemen and two civilians.
The policemen killed were Inspector Bethel Agbobu, Sgt Odehohwo George and Cpl Imoisiu Ikechukwu.
The two civilians killed were Mr Sowemimo Kabiru and 15-year-old fish seller, Miss Sarah Ibikunle.
Aderanti said after the incident, he summoned a meeting of various commands and directed the Officer in Charge of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, SP Abba Kyari to take charge of operations to fish out the suspects connected with the robbery.
He said the O/C SARS deployed advanced technology and human resources to Delta, Ogun, Ondo and Ikorodu, and in the course of the operations, one of the suspects, Odogbo the leader of the gang was arrested in Delta State.
Odogbos’s arrest led to the arrest of other suspects who will be charged to court soon after the police have concluded their investigations.