Robbery suspects cut bars, escape from police cell

Two of the robbery suspects, who were arrested while they were operating on Iju Road, in the Agege area of Lagos, have escaped from the police cell.

PUNCH Metro learnt that three suspected members of the gang, which reportedly laid

siege to a hotel and some residences of Sands Avenue, off Iju Road, had been handed over to the Pen Cinema Police Division, beforOur correspondent learnt that on Sunday, August 9, at about 2am, the armed robbers, said to be about 10 men, invaded the area, and robbed a hotel and some private homes.

It was learnt that the robbers carted away money and valuables from the hotel lodgers, workers, and other places during the operation.

PUNCH Metro gathered that men of the Oodua Peoples’ Congress, who were the local vigilance group in the area, however, apprehended three of the robbers and took them to the Pen Cinema Police Division.

Our correspondent learnt that the three robbery suspects, identified as Dare Drain, Akeem AK, and Lekan Student, were locked up in the cell by the policemen on duty.

It was gathered that on Wednesday evening, two of the suspects had, however, cut through the burglar bars in the cell, and escaped from custody.

Victims of the robbery and the OPC men, who were aggrieved by the development, were said to have been invited by a policemen in the station, who pacified them that the robbers would be re-arrested.

When PUNCH Metro visited Sands Avenue on Tuesday, the manager of the hotel, which was robbed, declined to give any comment.

However, one of the workers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the robbers carted away a huge amount of money and also injured the hotel’s guard.

He added that the robbers raped some of the hotel’s female workers, who had yet to resume work.

He said, “The robbery lasted for more than an hour. We were helpless. The robbers overpowered our security guard and injured him.

“They carted away valuables. They raped some of our female workers during the operation. I was told that the OPC men later caught three of them and took them to the police station.”e two of them escaped from the cell.

It was gathered that policemen, who were on duty on the fateful day, had been arrested, while

 the fleeing suspects had yet to be re-arrested.