Robber Takes Car To Pastor For Blessing & Arrested In Church

A man, Yinka Oyeniran, who was nabbed after he kept a Toyota Camry snatched by his gang members in a church has been remanded in prison custody after his case was charged to court last Friday.

Forty-five-year old Oyeniran was arraigned in Magistrates’ Court 2, Iyaganku, on a two-count charge of conspiracy and robbery. He was accused of conspiring with others at large to dispossess a woman of her Toyota Camry car with registration number LSR 292 AT in Ibadan, along with other valuables.

Oyo State Police Public Relations Officer, Olabisi Okuwobi-Ilobanafor, had told journalists recently that Oyeniran was arrested in his church in Gbongan, Osun State through the collaborative efforts of policemen from Oyo and Osun States who laid ambush for him after they traced a car that was snatched in Ibadan, Oyo State, to the church premises.

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Though Oyeniran attended church regularly and deceived members of his church at Akinlalu junction in Gbongan, that he was a fervent and devout Christian, God proved to him that He cannot be mocked as his criminal acts became exposed through the car he kept in the church premises.

Oyeniran, an indigene of Gbongan but who farms in Modakeke town, also in Osun State, had told his pastor and members of the congregation to rejoice with him over the purchase of a Tokunbo Toyota Camry car. Unknown to the pastor, however, Oyeniran and his four-member gang had snatched the car from a woman in Ibadan.

Crime Reports gathered that the four-man gang which operated with the use of motorcycles, trailed their victim from a fellowship centre to her residence at Kute Wofun area of the city with an unregistered red Honda motorcycle on August 10 at 9p.m., and robbed her of the car valued at N1.3million.

Not only that, the armed robbers reportedly collected the woman’s handsets, handbag, Blackberry valued N67,000, jewellery valued at N100,000 and a sum of N120,000 cash. Unfortunately for the armed robbers, the car was tracked to Oyeniran’s church where he hid it. Crime Reports learnt that Oyeniran was forced to push the car into the church premises when it stopped working after it was demobilised.

In an interview with Crime Reports when the accused was paraded by the Oyo State Police Command, he mentioned his gang members as Taiye Victor, Tunde, an okada rider and another man whose name he claimed he did not know.

The accused also revealed that he had gone for robbery on two or three occasions but denied ever using a gun, saying that the guns they were using belonged to other members.

Describing how the operation was carried out, Oyeniran had said that it was Taiye who held the gun while he held a pipe they used in threatening their victim. He also said he was the one who collected their victim’s money, handsets as well as car key while Taiye demanded for the original documents of the car and removed its number plates. He however said he tore the documents into shreds and threw them into the bush on the way to Gbongan so as to avoid the scrutiny of policemen on the highway.

Before Oyeniran confessed his deeds, he had initially denied snatching the car, telling the police that he bought the vehicle for N1million from Taiye who purchased it from Cotonou in Republic of Benin. The accused said he paid N200,000 upfront and gave an additional N300,000 when the car was brought, claiming that he was still owing Taiye a balance of N500,000.

Other items recovered from the suspect, according to the PPRO, included  one unregistered red Honda motorcycle, one red Nissan Sunny car with registration number AP 406 SGB, a bunch of keys  and a rectum cable wire

The sitting magistrate in Court 2, Mrs Oyediran, ordered that the accused be remanded in prison custody and adjourned the case till November 19, 2013.