SERIAL PHONE THIEF WHO PASSED OUT IN AN OSUN CHURCH CLAIMS THAT HIS PROBLEM IS SPIRITUAL.

Ayo and Lukman, two further gang members, managed to flee and are currently at large, according to the PPRO.

It was stated that Abioye and his gang members specialized in home invasions, where they would also steal victims’ phones and other belongings.

The suspect is an ex-convict who was incarcerated in Ilesa Correctional Center in 2018 for the same offense, according to a police spokeswoman, but he opted to carry on with his actions until his adversary caught up with him.

SP Opalola continued, “The suspect further admitted that they typically operated at Owode-Igbona, Akindeko, Atelewo, Ido-Osun districts of Osogbo and in Ibadan, Oyo State.

She stated that while efforts were being made to catch the gang members who were running away, the apprehended suspect will be arraigned in court once the investigation was complete.

Abioye, 42, an Osogbo native who now resides in Ibadan’s Abayomi neighborhood on Iwo Road in Oyo State, admitted to the crime in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune but maintained that his situation is spiritual.

I’m a driver, he declared. I used to visit Osogbo frequently to see how my young daughter, who I adopted from a woman but had since been split up from, was doing. It is true that while I was at a church stealing phones that were being charged, police patrol teams were welcomed by people in whose homes my gang members Ayo and Lukman operated.