RRS arrests ‘madman’ with 22 ATM cards, others

A 39-year-old man suspected to be mentally-ill has been arrested by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Lagos State Police Command, in Victoria Island of Lagos State, in possession of 22 Automatic Teller Machine, ATM cards, two mobile phones and a power bank.

The man, who identified himself as Lanrewaju Jaiyeola, was intercepted by the police, following the suspicious manner he carried a backpack along the Ozumba Mbadiwe Road.

According to one of the Police officers, “when we sighted Jaiyeola, he appeared like a mentally sick man upon inquiry and interrogation, he answered and responded normal to all our enquiries.

“Afterwards, he started straying from the normal course of our enquiries. This raised further curiosity and we decided to check out his backpack.

What we found was startling; 22 assorted credit cards, 1 Nokia phone with flat battery, a blackberry, a power bank, several bank tellers of recent bank transactions, and lots of invoices amidst numerous pieces of papers.

“On further scrutiny, we discovered that eight of the credit cards were still valid. Out of these; three would expire in 2018, another three would expire in 2017 while two would expire in 2016.

All the credit cards bore different names and banks”, the officer stated. Confirming the arrest, RRS Commander, Olatunji Disu, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP, added that upon arrival at the RRS Headquarters in Alausa, the suspect made “statements suggestive of somebody disguising as a mad man to perpetrate crime around that axis.

He continued: “Initially, we noticed that he was mentally balanced because he was answering the questions posted to him adequately.

But all of a sudden, he started sounding incoherent and illogical again”.

Though, the police suspected foul play, Disu, added that during interrogation, “He threatened the investigative Police officer, saying, I will make life unbearable for you if you don’t let me go “It was at this point we realised that possibly he might be enjoying the patronage of some highly placed people whom we believe he might be working for”.

It was further learnt that the suspect had been under surveillance of the Police for about two weeks before he was arrested last Wednesday.

The police said the suspect had been transferred to Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, for further investigations and psychiatric examinations.

Vanguard