Suspected assassins say they collect 300k to kill target

A gang of suspected assassins have confessed to the Lagos State Police Command that their clients pay them the sum of N300,000 to murder their targets. The four suspects, Salami Afeez, Dare Akinyemi, Fatai Olunje and Taiwo Akinyemi, were nabbed by operatives of the command in the Mushin area of the state on 11 December, 2014, after a police detective had gone undercover as a prospective client.

The police revealed that the suspected killers were hired to kill a Nigerian, who is based in London and was planning to visit home for the yuletide.

The police statement further intimated that the agent who contacted the gang, wanted to be sure that the gang had guns, and therefore asked them to produce their weapons, which the gang allegedly did. The detective played along with the criminals and led the police to arrest them in their hideout before they could carry out the operation.

One of the suspects, 23-year-old Afeez confessed that their client promised to pay the gang N300,000 for the assassination. He, however, denied that they had always been assassins, adding that they were only enticed by the money.

Hear him:

"The client had not told us who the victim was. What he initially told us was that there was an election operation which we would carry out for a politician. He asked me to get more people to handle it. So, I got the other gang members.

We planned everything with the client, who we simply refer to as chairman, at a beer parlour on Awawu Street, Mushin. Later on, when we were arrested, we got to know that one of those people we were dealing with was actually a detective.

It was not that I worked as an assassin. I stay on Mustapha Street, Mushin, with my family where I work as generator repairer.

I am also a cult member. I was initiated into the Aiye cult last year October. It was the money that enticed us. The chairman promised to give us N300,000 for the job."

Another suspect, Akinyemi, a 31-year-old, confessed that he was a drug trafficker before he was introduced to the gang, though he was yet to partake in any operation with the members.

"I stay in Mushin. I deal in drugs. It was Taiwo who said he had a group which wanted to carry out a lucrative operation, and I should be a part of it. I told them that I don’t indulge in armed robbery, but they promised me a huge part of the money.

On the day we were arrested, we were about collecting the N300,000 payment. Taiwo and I went to a hotel lounge in Mushin, and that was where the police arrested us. I have never killed before. This is my first time. We intended to spend the money for Christmas.”

The third suspect, a 43-year-old armourer for the gang, Fatai Olunje, from Ilorin in Kwara State, also worked as a local security guard and confessed to have purchased the guns the gang used in 2006.

For 37-year-old Kareem, also from Kwara State, said he was deceived into going on the operation, because their client, who only named himself as Chairman, made them believe he was a well-to-do politician.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, confirmed the arrest of the suspects, adding that investigations were ongoing.

"The suspects have confessed to the crime. Investigation continues on the matter."