A 23-year-old armed robbery suspect, Godwin Emmanuel, admitted to his skill in theft on Friday after confessing to stealing a police mobile phone while being transported in a patrol van to the Osun State Police Command in Nigeria.
Emmanuel was arrested alongside two others, Olajide Kareem (28) and Mike Emmanuel (33), for allegedly robbing residents and assaulting a 65-year-old woman who was accompanying her husband to hospital along the Ilesa-Osu expressway in Osun State.
During the suspect parade yesterday, Yemisi Opalola, spokesperson for the Osun State Police Command, revealed, “The three suspects rob motorists and passengers of their belongings. In one occasion, a bus driver was shot in the leg and transported to the Seventh-Day Adventist Hospital in Ile-Ife for treatment.
“Olajide was later apprehended in the bush, where he admitted to being a member of a five-man gang of armed robbers that travelled from the Ikorodu area of Lagos State to carry out their activities in Osun State. The remaining two suspects were also captured.”
Speaking with journalists, Godwin stated, “I was arrested for armed robbery.” I snatched a phone while in the police van on my way to Osogbo Police Command. I hadn’t realised it was a police phone. I ask them not to get angry with me.
“I told police that I didn’t mean to do it. I took the phone into the police cell without their knowledge. I withdrew the SIM card so I could call my family, who were ignorant of my arrest.
“I’ve been here for approximately two months now. They later searched me in the cell and discovered the phone on me. Please ask them to forgive me. I promise not to do it again.”
