Hunger forced us into robbery – Suspects

Say they became homeless at ages 8 & 10 Two members of a robbery gang who operate around Ijora Badia and Ijora-7Up in Lagos have confessed being forced into crime by hunger. The suspects, Mustapha Mohammed (37) and Abduallahi Buba (20), said they became homeless at ages between eight and 10 were compelled to join […]

• Say they became homeless at ages 8 & 10

Two members of a robbery gang who operate around Ijora Badia and Ijora-7Up in Lagos have confessed being forced into crime by hunger.

The suspects, Mustapha Mohammed (37) and Abduallahi Buba (20), said they became homeless at ages between eight and 10 were compelled to join other homeless children to sleep under the bridge at Ijora Olapa.

The suspects, who were arrested by detectives attached to Ijora Badia Division of the Lagos State Police Command, said it was while residing under the bridge that they learnt the act of pocket picking and snatching of phones.

Police said the suspects were apprehended while escaping with their loot after robbing some Lagosians last Thursday.

One of the suspects, Buba, told the police that, “We were forced to start sleeping under the bridge at Ijora-Olopa, by National Theater. My step mother was always refusing to feed me. My father is a tailor. I started to sleep inside my father’s shop when I could no longer bear the suffering. One day she instigated my father against me. I ran away from home to save myself from humiliation.

“I met other teenage boys and girls while sleeping under the bridge and got introduced to crime.”

Lagos State police spokesman, Benjamin Hundeyin, said the suspects were arrested during an ongoing robbery on Apongbon Bridge, Ebute-Ero around midnight.