Yinusa Saheed is a big man at Okolowo, a serene community in the suburbs of Ilorin, the Kwara State capital. With a house of his own and cars he replaces at intervals, the 32-year-old is a known face in the neighbourhood. No one knew he made money inflicting pains on shop owners in the state until luck ran out on him recently.
The father of three and his brother, Yinusa Morufu, 38, were arrested by operatives of the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team for looting shops in Offa and Ilorin areas of the state and stealing several bags of rice.
It was gathered that Saheed formed the gang in 2017 after buying a Toyota Matrix, which he used in conveying stolen bags of rice to his customers at different parts of the state and sold to them at discounted rate.
He said he used the proceeds of crime to buy cars, build a house and send his children to good private schools.
Saheed stated, “On my first operation, we got 15 bags of rice. I started in 2017 and have lost count of the number of bags I have stolen from shops, but I know that it is more than 1,000 bags of rice. We have several customers in Ilorin. They thought we bought the rice in large quantity. A bag of rice is N15, 000 but we normally sold it for N14, 000.
“I do not take stolen rice to my house because I have conscience. It is wrong to allow my children to eat from that rice. I am sorry I allowed poverty to lead me into stealing.
“I did not feel bad then because I assumed that anyone that owns a big shop must be rich. So stealing few bags from them will never make them poor.”
