Two cousins have been arrested by detectives of the Ogun State Police Command for allegedly killing a tricycle operator, after dispossessing him of the three wheelers.
The suspects, Damilola Famoriyo, 34, and Akinbayo Emmanuel Abiodun, 31, both residents of Ikorodu in Lagos State, Police said, snuffed life out of the victim, one Amos Oyemechi Chuckwuka, and dumped his remains at the bank of Agoro River in Ijebu-Ode.
Information as to the lifeless body of the victim, then unidentified, at the riverbank, was relayed to the Obalende Police Division, following which, the Divisional Police Officer, SP Murphy Salami, led his team of detectives to the scene, where it was established that the victim was matcheted to death.
A follow-up investigation by the Police revealed that the deceased was a tricycle operator, whose three wheeler was snatched
But, while the devil incarnates basked in the euphoria of a successful operation, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Obalende Division, SP Murphy Salami, was racking his brain on how to unearth the evil perpetrators, and consequently, detailed his crack team of detectives to embark on technical and Forensic Investigation.
Barely two months of intensive investigation, Damilola Famoriyo was tracked to his New Site residence in the Awosan Fakale area of Ikorodu on February 9, 2023.
Found in his possession was one of the late tricycle operator’s phones.
“His arrest led to the apprehension of his accomplice, who is also his cousin, Akinbayo Emmanuel Abiodun of Road 1, Block A, Maya- Ikorodu, Lagos State”, the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Abimbola Oyeyemi disclosed in a press statement made available to Crime Puzzle, stating further that both suspects confessed to committing the alleged crime.
According to the PPRO, they confessed of operating as a two-man squad, specializing in the snatching of motorcycles and tricycles, with Ijebu-Ode and environs as their areas of operation.
On the incident that led to their arrests, the suspects disclosed that, on December 13, 2022, they hired the victim to convey their farm produce from Agoro area to the township, for a fee, and that on the Agoro/Ikangba Road, they stopped him and snatched his tricycle. But because he proved heady and was not willing to part with the tricycle, they had to machete him to death and dragged his corpse to the riverbank.
In their confessions, the suspects revealed the number of tricycles so far snatched from Ijebu-Ode axis to be eight, adding that they have standby buyers for them in Ikorodu.
The late tricycle operator’s two phones and the cutlass, with which they hacked him to death, were recovered from them as exhibits.
Meanwhile, the state Commissioner of Police, Frank Mba, has directed that the suspects be transferred to the state Criminal Investigation Department for discreet investigation.