A 23-year-old named Godwin Emmanuel, who is facing charges of armed robbery has confessed to stealing a police officer’s phone while being transported in a patrol van to the Osun State Police Command.
Emmanuel and two others—28-year-old Olajide Kareem and 33-year-old Mike Emmanuel—were apprehended for allegedly robbing residents and assaulting a 65-year-old woman on the Ilesa-Osu Expressway in Osun State.
The woman was reportedly with her husband, who was on his way to the hospital, when they were attacked.
While presenting the suspects on Friday, Yemisi Opalola, spokesperson for the Osun State Police Command, explained that the three suspects were involved in multiple cases of robbing motorists and passengers.
In one incident, they reportedly shot a bus driver in the leg, after which he was taken to Seventh-day Adventist Hospital in Ile-Ife for treatment.
Opalola added that Kareem was arrested in a nearby bush and confessed to being part of a five-member robbery gang from Ikorodu in Lagos state, who travelled to Osun to carry out their crimes. The remaining two suspects were later detained as well.
Speaking with newsmen, Godwin said: “I was arrested for armed robbery. When I was been transported to the Police Command in Osogbo, inside the police patrol van that I was conveyed, I stole a phone. I don’t know that it is a police phone. I beg to make una no vex.
“I told the police not to be angry with me. I don’t know when I did that. I took the phone into the police cell without them knowing. I removed the SIM card, I want to use the phone to call my people because they don’t know I have been arrested for armed robbery.
“I have been here for about 2 months. They later came to search me in the cell where I was and discovered the phone on me. Please tell them to forgive me. I won’t do it again.”