Northern City News learnt that while five members of the gang were arrested, Jimade is still on the run.
Those arrested were Sunday Okhomode, aka Sunny-Momoh, 30; Meshak James, 23; a painter, Amusu Koku, 28; a printer, Kunle Obajemi, 49; and a goldsmith, Suleiman Isa, 26.
Parading the suspects on Tuesday in Abuja, the FCT Commissioner of Police, Sadiq Bello, explained that the arrest of the suspects was sequel to a reported case of armed robbery at a house in Maitama, sometime in November last year.
According to him, a BMW X6 SUV, a large quantity of gold and other valuables worth millions of naira were carted away by the robbers.
Bello said following the report, the command’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad commenced discreet investigation, which led to the arrest of the five suspects and the recovery of the stolen SUV.
The police boss said, “In the course of investigations, so far, five vehicles, that have their colours changed, have been recovered, out of which four have been identified by their respective owners who were robbed at gunpoint in various areas of the city.
“In addition to these, four pistols with eight rounds of live ammunition and a face mask carefully concealed in a bag in the office of the runaway Dr. Ola Solomon Jimade, were recovered during the execution of a search warrant in the suspect’s hospital.”
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The CP stated that investigation was ongoing to recover more vehicles and arrest other members of the gang.
“If anybody knows the whereabouts of Dr. Ola Jimade, who is said to be an indigene of Ife Olukotun community, Yagba East, Kogi State, he should quickly alert the nearest police station,” he said.
The painter among the suspects, Koku, told Northern City News, in an interview, that Jimade approached him to repaint the BMW SUV in December 2017, and another car in January this year for N60,000.
The printer, Obajinmi, who was said to be an expert in changing vehicle chassis numbers on dashboards, stated that he met the fleeing medical doctor sometime last year.
“He asked me to print a sticker for him, but I didn’t know it was meant for a stolen car,’ Obajinmi claimed.
Isa admitted buying some gold jewelry from Jimade for N1.7m.
In another development, the police stated that they have arrested one Destiny Abang, 32, from Boka East in Cross River State, for trying to steal a car in Area 8, Garki, Abuja.
In the course of investigation, the CP said the suspect confessed to have stolen several cars, most of which were taken to Boki in Cross River, where they were sold off.
“However, discreet investigation led to the recovery of 13 stolen cars, including a blue Mazda 323; a red Volkswagen Golf 3; an ash Mazda 323; an ash-colour Toyota Highlander; an ash-colour Mazda 323; a red Mazda, a blue Toyota Corolla car and others,” Bello explained.
