Police nab two relatives for robbing, killing tricycle rider

The Ogun State Police Command, on February 9, 2023, arrested two cousins identified as 34-year-old Damilola Famoriyo and 31-year-old Akinbayo Emmanuel Abiodun for allegedly robbing one Amos Oyemechi Chuckwuka of his tricycle.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Ogun State, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the suspects also killed the victim and dumped his corpse at a river bank in Ijebu-Ode.

He said the arrest followed information received by policemen at Obalende division, Ijebu Ode, on December 13 2022, that a lifeless body, later identified as that of the tricycle rider, was found beside the bank of a river at Agoro area of Ijebu Ode.

“Upon the information, the DPO of Obalende division, SP Murphy Salami, led detectives to the scene, where it was discovered that the deceased was macheted to death after which his tricycle was driven away,” he said.

According to Oyeyemi, the DPO had detailed his crack team to embark on a forensic investigation to unravel those behind the act.

Oyeyemi noted that their efforts succeeded on February 9, when Famoriyo, a resident of Awosan Fakale in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State, was apprehended with the deceased’s phone.

He added that Famoriyo’s arrest led to the arrest of his accomplice, who is also his cousin living at Block A, Maya, Ikorodu.

“On interrogation, the two suspects confessed to the commission of the crime. In their statements, they confessed to being a two-man syndicate who specialized in snatching motorcycles and tricycles in the Ijebu-Ode area,” he said.

Oyeyemi said that the suspect confessed that they had on December 13 lured the victim to convey their farm produce from Agoro area to the town, and they agreed on a price.

“But on getting to Agoro/Ikangba road, they stopped him and snatched the tricycle from him. The deceased tried to struggle with them and they macheted him to death before dragging his corpse to the river bank,” the suspects confessed.

The suspect had told the police that they have snatched up to eight tricycles in the Ijebu-Ode area, saying their standby buyers reside at Ikorodu.

Two phones of the victim and the cutlass used in killing him had been recovered by the police even as the Commissioner of Police, Frank Mba, directed the suspects be transferred to State CIID for discreet investigation.