Police arrest dismissed soldiers for hijacking truck

The police in Lagos have arrested five men for allegedly hijacking a truck loaded with gallons of vegetable oil worth N13.2 million along the Epe expressway. In a statement yesterday, the police said the alleged robbery took place on September 2. The suspects include Moses Johnson, a dismissed soldier; Akintola Abiodun, a dismissed air force personnel; and Chidi Osegbu, who was in possession of a fake army identity card, the police said. The others are Monday Ayele and Esowanne Emeka. Rabiu Kazeem, the driver of the Sterling truck with registration number LSR-266-XW , said he was moving from Ajah when he was intercepted by the alleged robbers. “When we got to Epe, a Hilux vehicle approached us and military men came out of the vehicle telling me and my motor boy to get off the truck. My motor boy already ran into the bush,” Mr Kazeem, 47, said. “They forcefully brought me down the truck and drove off. But I positioned myself under the vehicle and I followed them to Ikorodu road. “A bike man was following the truck and he told me to get away from the truck and that he would help me, not knowing that he was one of them. “When I noticed that the bike man was moving slowly as he was one of them, I alerted the people around and we called the police who helped us arrest the robbers.” The two who were arrested – Messrs Ayele and Emeka – upon interrogation named the other members of their gang which led to the arrest of the military personnel. Messrs Johnson and Abiodun, who said they were dismissed during former president Goodluck Jonathan’s administration in 2015, said they were asked by a man identified as Oloja to help him check a truck at Ajah.“