Suspected notorious kidnap kingpin ,Pencil has been arrested by the Lagos State Police Command .
Pencil described by the police as deadly armed robber and kidnapper was arrested in company with two others members of his gang .
The gang allegedly abducted and murdered two Bureau de- Change operators last month, in Ikorodu area of the state .
They were arrested by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Lagos State police Command .
The victims; Alhaji Yakubu Musa and Alhaji Hassan Umoru, were invited by the gang to convert some naira into dollars on March 14 .
On their arrival to the venue of the business transaction in Odogunyan area of Ikorodu, they were bound ,seized and a ransom of N1.6 million was collected from the victims families.
It was gathered that after collecting the ransom , the gang shot dead the victims.
Narrating how the killed the victims , one of suspects , Oluwatosin said : ” I planned the deal. But the intention was not to kill them. Our leader ,Pencil said I should convince the operators to come that Alhaji wanted to buy N10,000 dollars. The operators came in a motorbike and called us from Trailer Park bus-stop, Odogunyan. Pencil directed his own commercial Motor cycle operator operator to take the operators to a boys quarter around Odogunyan. .By the time I joined them at the boys quarters, I met them lying down with their hands bound. Pencil asked me to lie on the floor too, so as to make it look like I don’t have a hand in the game.
” Pencil told them that the Alhaja they came to meet was owing him N10,000 dollars and that his gang had come to collect the money. They started beating the operators . I also received my fair share of the beating to make it look real. The operators begged Pencil to stop beating them, that they would give them money for their freedom.
” Pencil instructed them to transfer the money into one Femi’s account. But when Pencil called to know if the money had been paid, the account holder said no.
” At that point , Pencil changed the game plan. He threatened to kill me alongside the operators if he did not receive alert on the payment. He said he suspected I was playing pranks by asking the person at the other end not to reveal he had received the alert.He said if he did not receive the alert by 4.55pm, he would kill all of us.
At that point, one of the victims suggested that another account, preferably GTB should be given to him to pay the money.
That was when I contacted Olueafunmilayo, the nurse that treated me when I was sick. The operator paid in N1.6 million to that account.
” By 8pm same day, they tore the victims clothes, used it to cover their mouths. When I asked pencil why he was doing that he asked if I wanted to teach him his job. He took one of the operators to the back and later sent for the second one. He shot both of them dead and said that was the only way to cover up our tracks, since the Bureau de change operators knew me.
Next day, we contacted the nurse to go and withdraw the money from the bank. But by the time we got there, she said she could only withdraw N500,000. Kenneth collected it from him. She later gave us another N500,000 and a balance of N470,000. I got N340,000 as my share of the loot”.
Police sources said efforts were on to arrest other fleeing members of the gang.
It was gathered that the commissioner of Police, Lagos State Police Command, CP Zubairu Muazu , when he got the information on the sudden disappearance of the men he directed SARS to investigate the matter .
However, the bodies of the operation were trailed to a septic tank in an abandoned building in Odognyan.
