Prison experience is expected to be a kind of reformation, but to many ex-inmates, as noticed in Nigeria, it seems to be a ground to be more toughened and emboldened to even commit more daring crimes. Examples of such characters are Afeez a.k.a. Star Boy, Abeeb, and Taofeek a.k.a TK who were released from Abolongo and Agodi Custodial Centre in Oyo State Command of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS), but came together to form an armed robbery gang, unleashing terror on Ibadan residents. However, the Violent Crime Response Unit, Oyo State Command, established by Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, halted them, along with a fourth accomplice, Taiwo. Three of the suspects were arrested in a hotel, while the fourth one was later apprehended. Other suspects, – Hussein, Moses and Friday a.k.a Fryo – are still at large.

Investigation by Saturday Tribune revealed that before the gang commenced operations, all the members, except Taiwo, were once inmates in Agodi and Abolongo Custodial Centres. It was learnt that the gang leader, Star Boy, with other suspects belonging to the same gang, was remanded in prison over alleged armed robbery and murder. However, Star Boy was unrepentant after his return when he regained freedom. Two months after leaving the prison on March 3, 2026, the thought of forming another robbery gang came to his mind.

The operational method of the gang began with surveillance, with Abeeb chosen as officer in charge of checking on houses in estates off Elebu area of the city. Because he once lived in the targeted area, he was directed by the gang leader, Star Boy, to move round houses in the communities, look for those with parked vehicles and a comfortable environment, and report back to the gang for action. This was done by Abeeb diligently, resulting in houses marked for invasion. The gang members were reported to have been so merciless whenever they struck, beating victims, with an alleged attempt to even defile a teenager in one of the residences attacked.

It was gathered that on May 18, the armed gang invaded one Adekunle’s house at Shalom Community along Liberty-Academy Road where they collected his valuables, wife’s jewelry and did a transfer of N5 million. Not only that, they took away his pump action gun. Fortunately for the victim, the money was frozen before it could be withdrawn, thanks to the bank the money was transferred to.

On May 25, they reportedly invaded another man’s house, took away his Hyundai Santa Fe SUV 2017 model valued at N23 million, phones and 1.1 million cash, and household items valued at N44.895 million. Unknown to the armed men, some of them were captured by CCTV cameras.

When contacted on the arrest, the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Olayinka Ayanlade, said that following reports by victims, Commissioner of Police Olugbenga Ayodeji Abimbola directed the VCRU operatives to commence an immediate investigation to halt the activities of the night marauders.

“The operatives swung into an immediate action, and through intelligence-driven investigation, the four suspects were arrested. During interrogation, they confessed to being armed robbers. The operatives recovered three guns from the suspects – two cut-to-size locally-made guns, a pump action gun taken from a house where they carried out a robbery operation and five live cartridges.

“They have made confessional statements on the robbery operations they carried out in Ibadan. Such a case had already been reported at the Monitoring Unit and the complainants were directed to the VCRU where they identified the attackers,” the PPRO stated, adding that efforts were still ongoing to apprehend other fleeing suspects.

In an interview, Star Boy, aged 39, from Ikire in Osun State, said that he was a barber before his involvement in an armed robbery case that landed him in Abolongo prison in 2022. He recalled: “We carried out the operation at Ologuneru Community in Ibadan and one of our gang members called Moses even killed someone during the robbery. He was the one on the watch outside and he said that the person he shot came out from another house and was peeping, while I was inside a house with others. Four of us were arrested – Moses, Dauda, Segun and I – but the case was struck out in court because the complainants were not appearing in court. The last time they were in court was 2023. The four of us were released by the court.”

He confessed that his current stay in the police cell was because of his involvement in another armed robbery by a gang led by him. According to Star Boy, “I was arrested for belonging to an armed robbery gang. We were invading houses, robbing their occupants while armed with weapons – a pump action gun and two single barrel guns. The two barrel guns and live cartridges were brought to the gang by one of us, Taofeek a.k.a TK. I gave him money for them. We got the pump action gun from the residence of one of our victims.”

Explaining how he formed his armed robbery gang, Star Boy said: “I went to meet Taiwo whom I knew before my remand in prison. We were both living at Oja’gbo area then. I requested a gun from him, telling him of my intention to begin robbery operations, and he directed me to Taofeek. Taofeek sold one single barrel gun and four cartridges to me for N50,000. I got the money from friends whom I sought support from after leaving the prison. Later, Taofeek brought another single barrel gun and agreed to be part of the gang.

“I was connected with another gang member, Abeeb, by the person we were selling stolen phones to. His name is Adigun, a Hausa man, now in Cairo, Egypt. The phone receiver told me that Abeeb would know the houses we could invade Adigun was an ex-inmate.”

Gang’s first operation

Star Boy said: “We went to a house where we collected the pump action gun belonging to our victim. Before we invaded the house, Abeeb had gone on surveillance, looking out for houses where vehicles were parked, with a look of comfort. He was the one who took us there. On the day of our operation, we scaled the fence through the backyard and gained entry into the house through a glass door with no burglar proof. We were five in number – Abeeb, Moses, Friday, Hussein and I. We collected two phones and his pump action gun. He transferred N5 million from his account but we could not get it because he blocked it after we left. We sold the two phones and five of us shared the money.”

The allegation that the gang members used to beat victims was confirmed by Afeez, though he said he was not involved. He also opened up on how his gang invaded another house where they not only took away the victim’s vehicle but also loaded his household items in it. “We were four that went for the operation – Abeeb, Hussein, Friday and I. We knew they used to lock the gate at the entrance of the estate, so we went there at about 9:30p.m. and hid in an uncompleted building. We came out at about 11:30p.m. and scaled the fence of the targeted house, while one of us named Friday a.k.a Fryo kicked the door open with his leg. On entry, we asked for phones and gold jewelry. We took N1.1 million cash from our victim and he also transferred a sum of N1 million into a bank account that we gave him. Not only that, we packed household items, including television, home theatre and fan inside our victim’s vehicle and went away with them all. Abeeb took the TV and fan while I sold the home theatre to one Baba Ayoka, a Hausa man at Sabo, for N100,000. We gave the vehicle, a Hyundai Santa Fe 2017 model to one Akodu, who is also an-inmate. We picked him at Challenge area and handed the vehicle over to him at Boluwaji area. I had not got anything when I was arrested, but Akodu gave Abeeb N800,000 after selling the vehicle.

“The next place was our female victim’s house. I had once lived in the area at Alakia. We didn’t know her before we invaded her residence; we were just asking for her second gold chain when we saw the one she had around her neck. We collected her gold chain and phones. We also transferred N4 million from her account to an account sent by Adigun who is in Cairo. Adigun got the account number from someone else and forwarded it to me. He also sent Carbon Bank account number into which N1 million was transferred (Carbon Bank is a digital bank operating in Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya). The agreement we had was that he would take half of the money sent to him. He later told me that he was only able to get N2.5 million out of the N5 million, as the Access Bank account was blocked. He sent me N1.4 million.”

Star Boy claimed that he didn’t know that any of his gang members had a whip which was used in beating a teenage occupant in the invaded house in an alleged rape attempt. However, he admitted threatening the woman that he would kill her with the gun he held.

Disclosing how he was arrested, the suspect said that police operatives rounded him, Taofeek and Taiwo up in a hotel in which they lodged at Olorunsogo area.

When asked how he felt about the likelihood of his returning to prison after few months of freedom, Afeez said: “I made a mistake.” But it is unknown the kind of mistake he felt he made – whether returning to crime or not being ‘smart’ enough to avoid being caught.

The second suspect, Taofeek, aged 36, narrated his involvement: “I am a member of Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Fasheun faction. I found the gun when I was working as a night guards in a popular school in Ibadan (name withheld). I repaired the gun and got live cartridges through a man. I followed my gang to two of its robbery operations.”

He confirmed that he was an ex-prison inmate: “I was found with a gun and told a lie that I had thrown it away, but I kept it. That was the gun I sold to Star Boy. I was eventually granted bail after spending a year in the prison, and the case was struck out. That was about five years ago.” He also admitted being part of the armed robbery gang led by Star Boy.

Taiwo, an Ibadan indigene, aged 45 and working as a driver, confessed to linking Star Boy with Taofeek for gun purchase and said that he also took the gang to an operation at Ring Road, for which he got N100,000 as payment. “I knew Taofeek had guns because I used to see him carrying one about as a night guard, and he also told me he had a gun to sell to anyone willing to buy,” he stated , disclosing that Star Boy opened up to him on his intention to use the gun for armed robbery.

The fourth suspect, Abeeb, aged 30, also confirmed being an ex-prison inmate. He gave the reason: “I was working on a poultry farm in 2018 when I was arrested for collecting money from a manager who sold chickens unlawfully. I was in prison for two years and released by the court in 2020 when the manager admitted to giving us money without our knowledge about what he did, and the complainant was unwilling to go on with the case.”

Abeeb spoke further: “I joined a robbery gang this year. Before then, I learnt barbing as a vocation, and was looking for a job to have money to start the business. I went to meet an ex-prison inmate, Adigun, at Sabo in Mokola area of Ibadan. He used to buy stolen phones from Star Boy. I explained my predicament to him and he said he would connect me with one his ex-fellow inmate so that I could make quick money.

“I was introduced to Star Boy and I became his gang member. I mounted surveillance on that community because I lived there when I was working in the poultry. It was Star Boy, Hussein and Friday who used to handle guns whenever we went for robbery. I was the one who drove the vehicle we took from our victim’s house on our second operation.”

Victims

Some of the victims, who spoke with Saturday Tribune, relived their experiences as they narrated their ordeals. One of them, A victim, Abiodun (surname withheld), said that the armed robbers gained access to his house on May 18, though they arrived there shortly before 12 midnight. I heard them and shouted for help. That did not deter them. I was with my wife and three children. One of them even said he would kill me. They collected the phones belonging to me and my household, as well as 320 dollars that i wanted to pay for a document meant for submission. They checked my Opay account and didn’t find money there. They spent about 45 minutes before they left. It was a terrible experience.”

He gave kudos to police operatives, saying that he had already lost hope when he heard that his attackers had been arrested.

Another victim, whose vehicle was taken away, along with his belongings, spoke: “On May 18, at about 2am, my wife and I were tapped awake from sleep by armed robbers. They scaled the fence through the back and broke the sliding glass door of my master bedroom and came in through it. They started beating me, asking for my valuables. They had already taken my laptop and jewelry in my master bedroom. They asked me to unlock my phones by telling them the passcodes. After unlocking the phone, they scrolled through and saw Access Bank app. They asked me to log in and type the password, which I did. They asked me to transfer N1 million to an Access Bank account. They asked me to transfer another N2 million, then another N2 million, totalling N5 million. The transfers were successful.

“After that, they demanded for my gun but I told them I didn’t have any. Then, they put their gun nozzle to my ear, threatening to blow my brain if I didn’t give them my gun. My wife, afraid, quickly told them where it was. They ordered me to take them there and when they saw it, they exclaimed in excitement: ‘it’s a pump action gun!’ They locked me and my wife inside a room and left.

“When I noticed the quietness indicating that they were gone, I went to the Toyota Hilux van in my compound in which I had an official phone. They even went away with the Hilux key. I connected with the internet and called online Access Bank. I explained how I was robbed and money was transferred to another account of the bank from mine under duress. The transfer was confirmed by the lady who picked my call and she immediately laid an embargo on the account, after which she asked me to go to a branch very early and lodge a report. That made it impossible for the armed robbers to get my money.

“In the morning, I reported the case at a nearby police station from where it was transferred to the Monitoring Unit. Two weeks ago, I was told by a guy who was also robbed that some armed robbers had been arrested by VCRU operatives. I went to the office and identified the gang leader.”

The chairman of Victory Garden Estate, off Elebu Community, Mr Olufemi Omotade, said that in the last 20 years that he had been living in the area, there had been no night robbries until December 2025. “We had the first incident that December. It was shocking and traumatic. We tried to fortify our community security wise but that of a neighbouring estate was porous because of a court issue which didn’t enable fencing. So, it enabled easy access to our estate and the armed robbers were coming in through the place which we saw in CCTV footages. They operated in some houses and came again in May and operated in four houses on the same day. They moved to another house in the neighbouring estate.

“The Landlords’ Association chairman, who commended the police for putting an end to residents’ fear, described the arrest as “wonderful.” He continued: “The criminals had presented themselves as elusive, as if nobody could catch them, leaving trauma among our people. When the victims saw the suspects, they (suspects) couldn’t deny being the ones who attacked them. And that makes us happy that they have been found.” (Saturday Tribune)