A gang of goat rustlers which had been terrorizing goat owners in Oyo/Ogbomoso axis of Oyo State has been arrested by operatives of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Oyo State Police Command, with 17 goats recovered from them. Parading the suspects at police headquarters at Eleyele, Ibadan on Monday, October 13, 2014, the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Kola Shodipo disclosed that on Wedenesday, October 8, while on patrol along Oyo-Ogbomoso highway, a team of SARS operatives from Oyo/Ogbomoso annex,
led by a sergeant, Adeyemo Joel sighted a Mazda 626 car with registration number JJJ 765 CY.
He added that they noticed that the car was occupied by three men looking rough and suspicious which made them ask the driver to stop for a routine check. But the driver was reported to have sped off, raising further suspicion.
Shodipo said the operatives chased the vehicle and caught up with its driver inside Oyo town. When searched, 17 goats, both male and female, some measurement of raw beans and black cellotape were recovered from the vehicle. He gave the names of suspects arrested as Tunde Kazeem Smith, Segun Babatunde and Tunde Olajide.
When interviewed by Crime Reports, the three suspects confessed to the crime, saying it was lack of a means of survival that led them into the crime.
According to Smith (35), “I started stealing goats when I could not feed myself again due to lack of work. It was one Abbey who introduced goat theft to me in 2013. He is dead now. Our method was to move round streets in any neighbourhood in search of goats sleeping on the roads.
“We would throw beans on the ground for them to eat, after which we would use black tape to seal their mouths and put them in our operational car. We used to work in the dead of the night and used to go in twos or threes. The vehicle impounded with the goats belonged to Segun Babatunde.
“We used to sell each goat for N4,000 or N5,000 to those who make asun (barbeque). I believe some of them knew we were stealing the goats being sold to them but not all of them. Sometimes, our customers would wait for us at the toll gate area at Lagos end of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway and we would drop the ones they needed for them in the dead of the night.
“The maximum number of goats we carry once is between 12 and 17. We used to go twice a week. We were never arrested because we used to pray to God that police would not arrest us. I believe only God understands where we were arrested after our last operation.
“Few hours before our arrest, we left Lagos State at about 7p.m. for Ogbomoso in Oyo State. It was while we were returning that we saw a vehicle following us. We stopped and it was parked beside us. Policemen came out of the vehicle and arrested us.”
In his own confession, Segun Babatunde(32), said: “I am from Ibadan, Oyo State. I am a father of five children. I live at Mile 12 where I worked as a commercial bus driver. I am the owner of the Mazda 626 used as our operational vehicle. I started this goat stealing operation two months ago and I have gone about four times. The idea was introduced to me by Smith when I had no money to survive because the bus I was driving got spoilt. I have got about N40,000 from the business.”
The third suspect, Olajide (32) also said it was his first time of following other members to steal goat. “I never knew that was what they were going to do. It was Babatunde who asked me to follow him to work when he noticed my idleness. He promised to give me money from the proceeds, depending on what we were able to make. It was hunger that drove me into agreeing with their plan. I promise never to do this kind of a thing if I ever get out of my present predicament,” he said.
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