By Tola Gbadamosi

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A39-year-old fruit seller turned notorious  motorcycle snatcher, Babalola Dolapo, has narrated how he gruesomely murdered his intimate friend and snatched his bike at Okeigbo, in Ile-Oluji/Okeigbo local government area of Ondo State.

The murder suspect who hails from Oyo State, but resides in Ondo town, confessed that devil pushed him to commit the crime.

Narrating what transpired amidst tears, he said: “It’s completely the work of the devil, the deceased is my close friend.

“My fruit business collapsed and help was not coming from anywhere, that was what led me into this business of motorcycle snatching.

“Truly, his motorcycle was not the first one I will snatch and I have never killed anyone before, even those who are not close to me, I snatch their bikes without killing them, but this is just devil at work and I wish I could explain how it happened.

“At the point where we snatched his bike from him, he struggled with us and in the process, I hit him on his head with a fat stone and other harmful objects.

“Actually, I did not know that it was him that we were about to attack, but when our eyes met, I then realised it was my close friend, so that was why I hit him which resulted to his death”, he stated.

Asked how many bikes he had stolen so far, he said almost 15.

“I usually sell the bikes to a person in Ibadan and the price ranges from how clean the bike appears and highest amount he buys the cleanest motorcycle from me is N200,000.

“This very one I snatched from my friend that I killed was sold for N130,000 and we shared the proceed from the sales of the bike equally.

The suspect who said he had been in the trade since 2021, revealed that they carried out their operations within the town and remote areas.

Addressing Journalists, the Ondo State Commissioner of Police, CP Abayomi Oladapo, hinted that on March 26, 2024, a complainant reported at the police headquarters that his motorcycle he gave to a rider was not seen since March  15, 2024 and every effort to trace the rider proved futile.

“Consequent upon the report, police swung into action and through intelligence, the suspect was arrested and upon interrogation, he confessed to how the rider was engaged from Ondo town to take him and one other to a farm in Oke-Igbo and the rider incidentally happened to be his friend.

“They have not seen for  many years until that  day when he engaged him. They brought him to this area and on getting to this point, they alighted from the bike under the pretense that they want to inspect their farm.

“The other suspect now at large hit the okada rider at the back and the suspect that we apprehended hit him with stone on the head and consistently used wood to batter his head.

“Thereafter, they dragged his corpse into the bush and dump him inside a pit and used leaves to cover him. 

“After interrogation, he led operatives to the particular location where the  body of the deceased was found and that is why we are here today to remove the corpse and do the necessary procedure, so that the family can give the deceased a befitting burial.

“Having said that, I want to use this opportunity to alert members of the public, most especially those who ride okada to be circumspect about the passengers that will engage their services to far areas and taking them through isolated roads because it could be very dangerous for them”.