Duke Odogbo, one of the four armed robbers recently arrested by the police in connection with the Lekki bank robbery in March, says he was given N500,000 from the N15 million they stole from the bank. The four robbers, Duke Odogbo, 38; Lawrence Kingsley, 31; Ebi Tosan, 20, & Ekelemo Kuete, 30 were paraded before newsmen at the Lagos state police command headquarters in Ikeja on Wednesday, May 13.
“I was invited by a friend from Warri, Delta State, to come for bunkering job. But on reaching Lagos, I was told it was a bank robbery. I told them I was into bunkering and not robbery. But because they told me we were going to make much money from it, I decided to join them. On the day of the operation, we left Tarkwa Bay at about 4.30 p.m., in two boats; with 11 persons on each. But one of the boats developed fault on the way.
We all entered the good one. We got to the bank few minutes after 5p.m. Immediately we left the canal, some of us went to the road and started firing, thereby making way for those of us that would go inside. I led the team that went in. We were all putting on Army camouflage. I shattered the entrance glass with bullets and when we got inside, we demanded for the money realized for that day. The manager told us they did not make much. But we broke into one of their strong rooms where we got some money. We also broke into two ATM boxes, but there was no money in either of them. We told ourselves that the operation must not exceed 40 minutes. To my surprise, by the time we were leaving, I discovered that my colleagues were with seven extra rifles. When I asked, they said they saw some policemen in a van, concluded they were there for us and shot at them. I was not the one that shot the policemen. I did not kill anyone. It was when we got to the forest, located in an island in Ikorodu that we discovered that the amount stolen was N15 million and I got N500,000. I used my share to boost my bunkering business.” he said.
Items recovered from the suspects were a 2008 model Honda Accord car purchased by one of the suspects from his share of the loot, one military face cap used during the operation,a white blackberry Z10 phone, an Apple iphone 5 and 120 expended ammunition. (Credit: LIB).