A police sergeant serving at the Oworo Police Division, Lagos State, Yakubu Aiyegba, and a retired Assistant Superintendent of Police, Obosa Augustine, have been arrested for alleged robbery. They were apprehended along with a taxi driver, Godwin George, by operatives from the Shasha Police Station. It was learnt that Aiyegba and Augustine were notorious for raiding a hotel in Egbeda and extorting money from guests in the facility.
They reportedly paraded themselves as operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Lagos State Command. They were said to have forcefully collected a sum of N50,000 and a laptop from an unnamed guest a few weeks ago and fled the area in a taxi driven by George. It was gathered that the three suspects, led by the retired ASP, went back to the facility – Ehis Hotel – on Wednesday on another extortionate raid. They were allegedly in the middle of the act when operatives from the Shasha division, who acted on a tip-off, stormed the hotel and picked them up. The suspects were subsequently transferred to SARS in Ikeja.
A police source told our correspondent that the command had been monitoring Augustine and Aiyegba for some time after receiving complaints from the hotel. He said, “There have been a series of complaints about SARS operatives extorting money from members of the public. We found out that on many occasions, the people impersonated SARS men. “On Wednesday, there was a similar case. Augustine and Aiyegba went to Ehis Hotel to rob guests, parading themselves as SARS operatives. They usually go to that hotel on illegal operations. Three weeks ago, they collected N50,000 and a laptop from a guest. That Wednesday, they were going from one hotel room to another to disturb the guests when the police were alerted.”
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