By Adeola Badru

Residents of Onikoko Community, a sub-community in Apete, a suburb of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital on Wednesday arrested a suspected armed robber who has been terrorizing residents of the area and handed him over the police.

The suspect, identified as Zobo Baba Bose, who was arrested by landlords in the area was said to have burgled a hostel near the Bekokukan mosque in the Onikoko area.

According to people who spoke to Vanguard correspondent, no fewer than six houses including the house of Mr. Najeem Raheem, the Deputy Photo Editor of Guardian Newspaper were robbed, where his wife and son were seriously injured in the attack.

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It was gathered that the suspect who lived close to the scene of the incident according to the residents was arrested around 1 am and handed over to the police officers from Apete division.

He was caught with a motorcycle, a gun, Chisel, and axe. A resident of the area who gave details of the incident noted that Zobo and his team had already burgled a room in the hostel and took valuables belonging to a student who was not around.

The source noted that the suspect had removed the burglar-proof in the room.

The source said: “I call you to inform you of a thief caught at night in our community but you didn’t pick the call. I thought the news may interest you. The name of the thief is Zobo Baba Bose, he lives at Iyabadan residence at Onikoko community around Arola area in Apete. The inhabitants of the hostel he burgled caught him and he has been handed over to the police for interrogation.”

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“He was caught with a machine, gun, chisel, and axe-like instrument which he used to remove their burglar-proof. He has been taken to the Apete police division. The thief has on several occasions be arrested on similar circumstances and released. In fact, the community had warned his landlord to evict him which she declined. Barely two weeks ago, the same hostel was burgled in similar circumstances until this new one happened.”

While speaking with this correspondent, the Chairman, Onikoko Community Landlord Association, Engineer Taiwo Olotu, confirmed that the suspect we arrested around 1 am and handed over to the police around 2 am on Wednesday.

He said: “There was a robbery, a hostel was bugled and residents raised an alarm. They called us and we caught him. All that we found on him made us conclude that he is one of the robbers that attacked the hostel.”

“There had been several incidents of robbery in the community. Many residents have been complaining about him and we told his landlord about it. He was arrested in the night around 1 am and we called the police. We handed him over to the police”.

Vanguard