Dismissed Soldier in Police Net over Robbery Allegation

A dismissed member of the Nigerian Army, 27-year-old Ugo Williams was recently arrested for armed robbery in Lagos.

Ugo, who was arrested alongside his gang members, Obinna, Aku and chibuzor Obeta is alleged to be notorious for car snatching and selling of parts of stolen vehicles. The gang however, metits waterloo when it tried to snatch a Honda End-of-Discussion Salon Car at the Olosan Junction in Mushin, Lagos.

The victim(names withheld) was repotedly returning from work when the gang stopped him at the junction.  Seeing that Ugo was in army uniform, he stopped to know why he was been ordered to park.

Daily Times gathered that immediately the man parked, the gang jumped into the car and ordered him at gun point to go to the nearest ATM to withdraw all he could in his account. Unfortunately, the ATM within their reach could not dispense cash, so out of frustration, the gang members attacked the victim and took his car to the Mushin Akala area where they vandalised itpreparatory to sellingoff the parts.

But as fate would have it, two days after the incident, the victim was trekking along Mushin road when he suddenly recognised the dismissed soldier as one of his assailants of 48hours ago.

He raised the alarmand people around helped to apprehend the robber who was taken to the Olosan Police Division and was subsequently transferred to the State Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Ikeja for discrete investigation.

The Enugu-born kingpin, who is married with a child however tells a slightly different story.

“I was an officer but was dismissed because of armed robbery. I was recruited into the Nigerian army in 2007 and I served for eight years before my dismissal. Although joining the army was not my initial dream, when upon the completion of my secondary school education I could not further due to finance and the opportunity came to join the army, I had to join.

“Although I have been involved in two robberies, I never had the mind of going into it. Even on the day we robbed our last victim, I didn’t plan to rob him. I and Obinna were just walking around Olosan area. We saw the owner of the car with a military uniform in his car. Something just told me he was not an army officer, but was parading himself as one.

“So I stopped him and inquired if he was an army officer. He said no, he was impersonating. I decided to take him to the nearest barrack which is the Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Centre (NAFRC). He started pleading, he said he would settle me, he claimed he didn’t have any cash on him so he drove to a nearby ATM but could not withdraw.

“He went on his knees and continued to beg, but I insisted we went to the barracks. On our way to the barracks, we were in traffic when the man suddenly started threatening me, saying I didn’t know who he was that he would deal with me. I then slapped him, he ran out of his car shouting ‘My eye my eye’.

“I asked Obinna to drive the car; we parked it along Mushin road not far from the scene of the incident. But two days after when I was going out, I was surprised when he and some men rushed me and he was shouting,‘where is my car?’  He called the attention of the Mobile Police men in Ojuelegba and I was arrested.”

Twenty-nine-year-old Obinna,a mechanic from Imo State claimed he became an armed robber by accident, but corroborated the story told by Ugo. “I came to Lagos in 2014 and has since then worked as a mechanic in Ladipo Market. It was my friend,Ugo, who lured me into the crime world. I met him as an army officer at a joint and we began to work together until the day of the incident.

SARS operatives however told our correspondent that investigation was ongoing and the court would determine the fate of the suspects.