The Oyo State Police Command has arrested a 45-year-old petty trader, identified as Folasade Adeniran, for allegedly keeping guns for a gang of robbers in Ibadan, said she was paid N3,000 after each operation.

The suspect was arrested by operatives of the Special Anti-robbery Squad of the Oyo State Police Command for aiding the gang of robbers who had been terrorising residents of Ogbere, Amuloko and other areas of Ibadan. Four members of the gang were also arrested.

The state Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Odude, said Adeniran and others were arrested after a mobile telephone belonging to a victim was found in possession of one of the robbers.

Apart from Adeniran, 30-year-old Bawa Suleiman, Tawa Bashiru, 27, Oyekanmi Rukayat, 20 and Jelili Ismail, 27 were also arrested in connection with a string of robbery operations carried out by the gang in the city. Odude said Ismail was the gang’s kingpin and that he was arrested by the State Criminal Investigation Department of the Lagos State Police Command.

Odude said, “The other suspects were picked up at their criminal hideouts in Ibadan. They robbed their victims at gunpoint. A mobile phone stolen during one of their operations was later recovered from one of the suspects and arrested by policemen from the Ogbere Police Division in Ibadan. Further investigation led to the arrest of other members. Two locally-made pistols, 15 cartridges and one iPhone were recovered from the gang.”

Adeniran said she met the gang members at a joint and that they approached her with the proposal to keep their guns.

She said,”I met the people when they came to drinkParaga (local herbal drink in a shop near mine. The approached me and promised to pay me well if I could keep their guns for them. I kept the guns underground for them and I was paid N3,000 each time they returned from an operation. My husband is not aware that I was keeping guns for robbers.”