How Berry Boys leader built reputation on brutal killings

In the world of cult gang violence in Idiaraba, Mushin, Itire areas of Lagos, Maliki Bello, described as the Supreme leader of the Berry Boys cult gang, who was captured on February 4, 2020 by the police, stands out in his voracious taste for violence. Brutal dismemberment, acid baths, and decapitation of victims were some […]

In the world of cult gang violence in Idiaraba, Mushin, Itire areas of Lagos, Maliki Bello, described as the Supreme leader of the Berry Boys cult gang, who was captured on February 4, 2020 by the police, stands out in his voracious taste for violence.

Brutal dismemberment, acid baths, and decapitation of victims were some of the tactics he allegedly uses to create fear in the minds of rival cult group.

The police said that Maliki’s viciousness had helped to build the dreaded Berry Boys group, whose official Facebook page (Bbl Baloteli) has about 1,928 friends.  Indeed, the Berry Boys gang is said to be the most-feared in Idiaraba and its environs.

He built that reputation on enormous personal cruelty.

For instance, in 2016 while he was barely 18 years old, he repeatedly led his gang members to Itire and Lawanson, to attack rival gang members in the area during which over five persons were feared killed while many were injured.

After carrying out his first hit for the group at age 15, he led his gang to the home of a rival cult leader located by the canal that separates Itire from Ijesha. By the time he came out, his body was soaked with the blood of his victim and members of his gang who went for the operation alleged that he had a piquant smile perched on his face.

“When we got to the small house located by the canal where Seun the leader of Aiye in the area resided, I saw Seun soaked in blood. He had been executed by Maliki,” another member of the Berry Boys, who is also in police net, said.

The gang member also alleged that during his time working for Maliki, he attended training sessions that required how to slaughter bound men with machetes and sledgehammers.

The police said Maliki started out as an errand boy at age 12 when he was initiated.

Residents said Maliki grew up in Idiaraba with his aged grandmother and that he loved to play football.

“That was how he got hooked up with some bad boys in the area who initiated him into cultism,” a neighbour who refused to be named said.

The neighbour said that experience eventually brought him into contact with other gang members and he later founded his own group now known as Berry Boys.

He told our correspondent that one of his greatest skills is escaping a crime scene each time they engage others in a bloody war. He was first declared wanted by the police in 2016, after the gang war that claimed more than five lives.

Our correspondent learnt that the Berry Boys gang started in 2014 as mercenaries for rival leaders of a Transport union, after it split from its parent organization, to form its own gang that peddle drug on the streets.

The most appalling violence in Idiaraba, Lawanson, Dosunmu, Ashimowo Bakare, Omo-Bola Mushin and Itire in recent years has been in large part fueled by this split, which has resulted in unhinged violence among proliferating cartels battling for territory.

With Maliki as the supreme leader and enforcer, the Berry Boys have acquired a reputation as the most violent among other groups.

According to Maliki, they use the Facebook page and other social media accounts to recruit new members, plan attacks, and give updates to members.

“Most young boys and girls join different groups on Facebook without knowing what the group stands for. Most of them get to know that they have joined a killer gang long after initiation. This makes it difficult for them to leave,” he was quoted to have told his team of interrogators.

One of the policemen, who claimed to be among those who went for the operation, said that Maliki alleged that to get a new member deeply involved in the activities of the gang is to make him kill someone.

“After the first experience, it become easier to allow them go out freely,” he said to the police.

The arrest of the supreme leader, who police said is one of the most violent gang leaders, would create a vacuum in the power play around the area.

Bala Elkana, Lagos Police Public Relations Officer, who confirmed the arrest, said Maliki referred to as the Berry Boys Supreme Cult Leader was nabbed along with 11 others by detectives attached to the Command  Special Strike Force on Social Miscreants.

He said on February 4, 2020 at about 7.30pm, following a sustained monitoring, operatives from Itire Police Station led by the Divisional Police Officer, SP Barkfur Kromkyes, arrested one Maliki Bello, 22.

“He is a native of Lalopun, Kwara State, but resides at 23 Ayinla Street Idiaraba area of Lagos State. Maliki has been on the wanted list of the police for violent crimes and gang clashes.

“The suspect confessed to be responsible for series of violent attacks, murders and armed robbery incidents recorded in Idiaraba, Lawanson, Dosunmu, Ashimowo Bakare, Omo-Bola Mushin and Itire.

“The suspect told detectives that he was initiated into the cult at age 12 when he was in Junior Secondary School (JSS1). He later rose to the number one position, mostly addressed as the supreme leader of the Berry Boys confraternity. The gang has an official Facebook page (Bbl Baloteli) with 1,928 friends,” Elkana said.

The Lagos Police Spokesman further said that investigation led to the arrest of 11 additional suspects.

“The Commissioner of Police Lagos State, Hakeem Odumosu, has further reaffirmed the commitment of the Command to address the menace of cultism and youth gangsterism in Lagos State.

“The onslaught on social miscreants launched by the Commissioner of Police is intelligence driven, targeting mostly the leaders of the gangs and cult groups and blocking the channels through which they recruit young people.

“The Special Strike Force on Social Miscreants has successfully brought under control the activities of various cults and gangs in the state through well coordinated and targeted operations. The onslaught will be sustained until they are totally defeated,” he added.