They are members of different confraternities, from different states of Nigeria. They have been intimidating  residents  at will, dispossessing  them of cash, telephones and other valuables. They also  extort money from hoteliers , traders and Point of Sale ,PoS operators ,  unchallenged.

Attempts by the traders to refuse to part with cash resulted in their shops being burgled, or fun seekers at the hotels and clubs  harassed or kidnapped, with ransom paid for their release.

Welcome to the world of the Crack Squad, a robbery gang that has been terrorizing  Lumac and its environs in  Satellite Town, Amuwo  Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos State, since last year.

Members of this gang as gathered,  held girls  hostage in their apartments  for days and subjected  them to sexual assault before releasing them. They also always molest married women.

Surprisingly, women were discovered to be members too. These women  sell hard drugs commonly known as mpurumiri., openly on the streets and hostels scattered around the area.

Other traders who sell the same products but are not members of the Crack Squad , have had their drugs seized severally, without having the audacity to challenge the gang. Some of these traders had to quit  sales  of illicit drugs , all in a bid to be free from the ceaseless harassment.

For the female members of the gang, they are used as bait to get rich men who patronize hotels and clubs in the area.  These men would be kidnapped  and released after parting with huge ransom.

Interestingly, after committing these   havocs, members of the gang as gathered,  would escape  through the  river , to the other side of the local government , whenever security operatives came  raiding.

Arrest.

But luck ran against the gang recently, following the arrest of   five suspected members, among who were two women, by  detectives of the Lagos State Police   Command’s Special Squad.

Crime Guard gathered that   one of them , a suspected female member who also doubled as the gang’s armourer, Blessing Gabriel, 30, was apprehended last month , after other members of the gang who were earlier arrested, led detectives to her alleged criminal hideout on   Olasunoye street, Satellite.

A miniature English pistol concealed in a bag and some hard drugs tucked under her brazier , were recovered from her.

suspects gave identities of leader of the gang as Ndukwe , a.k.a Hefty  and his deputy, Amadi .Confesses.

Blessing , a mother of two, who confessed to being a member of the Vi-queen cult group, however denied being a member of the Crack Squad.

She said: “ I joined  Vi-queens  cult group since I was a student in Nuhu Bamali  Polytechnic, Zaria, Kaduna State. Unfortunately, I dropped out of school when I lost my dad.

“I started selling hard drugs when I entered the streets, in satellite Town and I made N5000 daily.  I  gave  hard drugs commonly called ICE or mpurumiri, to members of  the Crack Squad  so that they won’t disturb  me when I am selling.  Everyone  knows that members of the squad are deadly. Their leader is  Hefty. He is on the run.

Members of the  Crack Squad  kidnapped my boyfriend , Afro, from Obiagu club where he went  for leisure. My boyfriend is married with four children but he sent his family to the village, while he is hustling on the streets. They told my boyfriend I was the one that masterminded his kidnap.

Gang’s armourer

Asked what she was doing with the pistol found on her, she replied, “  I was on my way to return the gun to Afro, my boyfriend  when the Police invaded the area. But I lied to the Police that the gun belongs to Hefty ,  leader of the gang, in order to protect my boyfriend and to get back at Hefty because he  and members of his gang came to rob me  of my drugs the night the Police came raiding”.

Attack

She was also accused of  masterminding the robbery operation of one of the  traders in the area, identified simply as Obiora. Again, she denied, explaining rather that ,”Mr Obiora is a drug dealer. He  sells  around Ijegun. NDLEA  once arrested  me.  The operatives  asked me to mention names of people selling drugs around that area, but I refused.

“I was released because there was no evidence to prove that I was selling drugs. After my release,  I decided  to  meet Mr Obiora  to suggest  that we should contribute some amount  of money to take to the NDLEA officials  since they now have an office at Ijegun. That way, they  would not come and  raid at  our end.

“On my way to his place,  I met Hefty. He asked where I was  going and I told him. But he doubted me and decided to accompany me there. On reaching Obiora’s place, we met his wife. I collected Obiora’s drugs, left my phone number with the little boy that was with his wife, with an instruction that Obiora should  call me when he returned. He actually came to meet me , we arranged on how to negotiate with the NDLEA officials and  I immediately returned his stuff back. I didn’t rob him”

Hefty raped me at will – drug dealer

Another   arrested female suspect, Chidinmma Madukwe, 32, who also  confessed to having been into sales of illicit drugs  at Lumac area of Satellite,  said she was forced to stop selling following pressure from the leader of the Crack squad, Hefty.

She  disclosed that she was kidnapped last August  in Obiagu, by Hefty and  members of his gang.

She said: “They took me to Baale street  at Ijegun, and collected all my drugs (mkpurummiri ), including the  cash I was with and the ones in  my bank account too.

“After some days, I saw Hefty at my house, I was shocked and asked how he knew my house. He  said one of his boys located my place. Hefty is somebody that everyone feared because he usually  carried guns around. He always intimidated and oppressed   me because I have no one here in Lagos.

Police betrayal

“ I once  reported how he had been intimidating me , to a policeman at Area ‘E’ , Festac Town.  But to my surprise, the policeman   told Hefty that I wanted  to burst  his gang. Hefty and his boys came to my house,  beat me up and left me with injuries on my face.

This, (pointing to a scar on her left ear) was what he did to me.  Since then, he has been coming to my house.  Each time he came with his boys,  they would  beat me and my younger  brother, and collect our valuables including  phones.  No one would come to our help even when we raised the alarm.

Most times,  he would rape me, without using condom. I had to move out of the house when I could not pay the rent, as I was forced to stop selling hard drugs due to the incessant seizure of my goods  by the Crack Squad. I had to go into prostitution to make ends meet” , stated the Anambra State born.

How Crack Squad was formed – suspect

Other suspected members of the gang  that were arrested included: Ikechukwu Chikwau ,25; Aleke Onyeka,28; Anthony Nwachukwu,, 25 and Odo Solomon,32. They were all arrested at different times.

One of them, revealed that members of the gang belong to separate cult groups such as Eiye, Aiye, Arobaga and Vi-Kings.

Explaining how the Crack Squad was created , Odo, said: “The Crack Squad  didn’t start as any squad. Hefty, created it.  We started by gathering on the street . Whenever we did not have money to buy  mpurumiri, Hefty would  buy on credit and pay later.

Before you knew it , the squad was created. The reason you don’t hear much about cult clashes in our area is because they belong to the same squad.

“At one point, I stopped  hanging out with them because they said they didn’t trust me anymore. Sometimes we might sit  together and they would  be planning something without my knowledge. But whenever they strike, everybody will assume I am one of them”.

The suspects, according to the out-gone  Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu, would be charged to court, even as he revealed  that 226 persons were arrested between January and March 1, 2022, for various offences.

Vanguard

The family of Suleiman Aremu Balogun, a passenger who boarded a bus at Alaba Rago Motor Park, Lagos, has petitioned the police against the motor park operators over the disappearance of their beloved.

On March 14, the family, through its lawyer, Mr Festus Ogun, petitioned the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, to investigate the circumstances surrounding the alleged death of Suleiman.

The petition, made available to The PUNCH was titled “Petition: Request for thorough investigation into the suspicious death/sudden disappearance of Mr Suleiman Aremu Balogun.”

Suleiman, a photographer, was said to have boarded a bus going to Kano at the park on Wednesday March 2, 2022, but never arrived at his destination.

When contacted by the family, the Chairman of the park, Alhaji Awalu, had told them that Suleiman was involved in a fatal auto-crash and was subsequently buried.

The petition read in part, “it is our clients’ brief that on Wednesday, the 2nd of March, 2022, Mr Suleiman Aremu Balogun, a professional photographer travelled from Lagos to cover a friend’s wedding ceremony in Kano, Kano State.

Mr Suleiman Aremu Balogun boarded a bus enroute Kano at Alaba Rago Motorpark in Lagos.
“Few days after embarking on the journey to Kano, he became completely unreachable and incommunicado as he never arrived at his destination and his whereabouts became unknown.

“Worried about this development, our clients reported to Police authorities and went to Alaba Rago Motorpark, where he was last seen, to make enquiries about his itinerary and suspicious disappearance.

“Shockingly, the Chairman of the Alaba Rago Motorpark simply identified as Alhaji Awalu informed our clients that the bus boarded by Mr Suleiman Aremu Balogun was involved in a fatal auto-crash around Koton Karfe area of Kogi State which led to his alleged untimely death.

“Upon further enquiry by our clients about the remains of Mr Suleiman Aremu Balogun, Alhaji Awalu declared that he was buried alongside others in what he described as a “mass burial.”

The family had expressed concerns on why the next-of-kin to Suleiman was not contacted before the said burial, despite filling a passenger form at the park.

As gathered from the petition, the family had a belief of foul play and implored the Commissioner of Police to investigate the matter to a logical conclusion.
Copyright PUNCH.

Police operatives from the Ikotun Division of the Lagos State Command led by the

Divisional Police Officer, CSP Johnson Adagba, have arrested a 28-year old man, identified as Joshua Samuel, for allegedly engaging a married woman in sex, secretly recording the actions and then posting same on the social media.

P.M.EXPRESS reports that the incident happened at Prophet Amoo Street, Abaranje area of Ikotun, Lagos where Samuel resides and works as post master.

Trouble was said to have started after the husband of the victim, who is mother of two kids, travelled abroad and left the woman and two children in their rented apartment. However, the rent expired and the woman was unable to pay. The owner of the house sent her away and threw her property outside rendering her homeless.

It was then that Samuel met her, offered to assist and asked her to move into his apartment pending when she will get money to rent another apartment.

According to the residents, immediately the woman moved into Samuel’s apartment, he started sleeping with her. And since she had no place to go with her children, as the husband was yet to send money for another accommodation, she allowed Samuel to continue to have his way with her.

Unknown to her, while Samuel was sleeping with her, he was secretly recording the sex actions, which he stored on his mobile phone and laptop. When the victim eventually secured another accommodation and moved out from Samuel’s apartment, she decided to leave Samuel and moved on with her life. That did not go down well with Samuel, who threatened to expose her unclothedness if she will not continue to satisfy his sexual desires. When the victim resisted the threat, Samuel then uploaded some of their edited sex actions showing the woman’s unclothedness alone to the public.

The victim later got to know when one of her relations, who saw the nude photographs, called and forwarded them to her and she broke down in tears. And since then, she has been in shock over Samuel’s dastardly act.
She later summoned courage and reported the matter to the Police. The Police operatives went into action; trailed Samuel, eventually arrested and detained him for interrogation.

P.M.EXPRESS scooped that the suspect, Samuel, has already confessed to have shared the photographs on some social media handles and claimed he was only using it as a joke.

When our correspondent visited Ikotun Police Division, where Samuel was detained, in order to speak with the DPO, he was told that he went out on routine monitoring in the area.

However, Police sources said that the suspects will be charged before the Court after the conclusion of investigations as the Police have already recovered his laptop and mobile phone as exhibits for his prosecution.

© PM EXPRESS