The
life and times of TK, the militant, pipeline vandal and robbery kingpin felled
by police bullets in what turned out to be his last robbery
Place
of birth, areas of operation He was relatively off the radar of security
operatives in Lagos State until last September, when he organized the abduction
of the wife of the Deputy Managing Director of the Sun Newspaper, Steve Nwosu
in their apartment in Amuwo Odofin area of Lagos State. Toweki Joseph, a.k.a.
TK, a 32-year-old native of Arogbo in Ese Odo Local Government Area of Ondo
State, until last Thursday, was the leader of one of the most notorious and
dreaded criminal gangs terrorizing states within the South-West and South-South
regions of the country. Members of his gang who are mainly Ijaw natives and
based in the creeks of Ishawo in Ikorodu and Ijegemo areas of Amuwo-Odofin
Local Government Area of Lagos State, were said to be responsible for most of
the bank robberies that took place in Ondo and Lagos states in 2015, that saw
several residents including security personnel lose their lives during the
operations. They were also linked to the abduction and killing of several
security operatives in Ikorodu area of Lagos State. Late TK Late TK Waterloo
Last Thursday, TK and 10 members of his gang met their Waterloo when they
attempted to rob some banks and bureau de change operators at Seme, a border
town between Nigeria and the Republic of Benin. Their target was to make up to the
sum of N1 billion. It was gathered that TK, who lead a 17-man gang was ambushed
by the security operatives when he arrived Seme through the waters in four
speed boats and was armed with heavy assault rifles, such as two General
Purpose Machine Guns, GPMG, seven AK-47 and 49 rifles, two LAR rifles and one
automatic pump action gun. Sources disclose that operatives of the Inspector
General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team, SIRT, an elite squad of
the Nigeria Police Force, newly established by the current IGP Solomon Arase
and trained to combat terrorism, kidnapping, armed robbery and other heinous
crimes within country, gathered an intelligence indicating that TK and his boys
were planning to carry out a large scale robbery on banks and bureau de change
at the Seme Border. Unlike in the past when such intelligence was generated by
the SIRT and passed on to the Lagos State Police Command to act on, the SIRT
operatives were deployed to Lagos State by Arase and they also alerted the
Nigeria Customs Service, the Border Patrol Unit of Nigeria Police Force and men
of the Intelligence Team B of the Inspector General of Police Special Task
Force on Anti-Pipeline Vandalism. Crime Guard gathered that 72 hours before the
operation, the Lagos State Police Command deployed men of its Special
Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, their counterparts at the Area K Command and the Seme
Police Division to protect the banks and bureau de change at the operator,
while the policemen attached to Border Patrol and their counterpart at
Anti-Pipeline Vandalism were deployed into villages around the border. Gang
member assures on the N1 billion target Crime Guard gathered that 48 hours
before the operation, the SIRT operatives, while acting on its intelligence,
arrested a driver to a popular bottling company in Lagos, who was contracted as
a member of the gang to help them ferry rifles, ammunition and explosives for
the operation. The driver who was identified as Jonson Chukwuma, was picked up
at the premises of his company at Ijora area of Lagos and when he was
interrogated, told the police that he was contacted by one Ozoremena Obi,
a.k.a. OZ, who he said resides in Seme to carry the arms, ammunition and
explosives to the border so as to beat police check points. He told the
operatives that OZ promised to reward him handsomely if the job was successful
but he declined, thinking it was risky and it could get him into trouble.
Chukwuma then took the SIRT operatives to Seme where they caught OZ in a hemp
joint where he was smoking. The hemp dealer at the joint was also arrested by
SIRT operatives. During interrogations, OZ confessed and told the SIRT
operatives that he and one of his friends identified as Ifeanyi were the
informants to TK and gave the idea of the job to TK. He explained that after
conducting his surveillance around the banks and bureaux de change at the
shops, he was confident that they would make as much as one billion naira if
the job was successful. He added that to convince TK about the job, he told TK
not to give him his own share of the loot if the money was not up to N1
billion. He added that TK told him that it would then be his last robbery if
they succeeded. OZ also explained that TK wanted to come by road and escape
through the waters and he wanted a truck to bring to Seme the arms, ammunition
and explosives that would be used and he told him that it would be too risky,
but TK insisted. He said he contacted Chukwuma to do the job for him, but later
he brought in Ifeanyi to explain to TK that coming by road could be too risky
due to heavy presence of security operatives on the road and he urged TK to
come through the waters. He said TK accepted and promised to call him when he
left his camp for Seme. Hours before death Crime Guard gathered that Seven
hours before TK met his Waterloo, he called OZ while he (OZ) was in police
custody, and said he heard he was arrested and OZ was asked to tell him that he
was picked up by policemen from Area K Command who raided the joint where he
was smoking hemp and he was detained for a night and he paid N1000 as bail. TK
then told him not to worry, that he was on his way and after the operation, he
would be well rewarded. Five hours later, OZ got another call from TK asking
him to join them by the waterside in Seme with a motorbike, so that he would
lead them to the banks as they were not familiar with the areas, but the SIRT
operatives asked him to tell TK to come to land and TK refused. But while he
was thinking of what do, TK was said to have moved closer into Seme and birthed
close to Custom Barracks. Unknown to him, he was moving into an ambush. The
custom officials on guard at the barracks on sighting TK and his men on the
water, opened fire on them and they went into different directions. 13 of them,
including TK, who were on three speed boats ran into Poturume, a village
between Nigeria and Benin Republic, and they had a clash with policemen from
the border patrol unit, backed by the Intelligence Team B of the Anti-Pipeline
Vandals. Crime Guard gathered that 11 of the suspects including TK sustained
fatal bullet wounds before they were handed over to the Lagos State Police
Command, Ikeja. “TK was like a field marshal” The Lagos State Commissioner of
Police Fatai Owoseni, while confirming the deaths of the suspects, told
journalists at the Command Headquarters Ikeja, that they found the following
with the bandits: Three speed boats, one with inscription “Castina Marine”, 22
pieces of dynamites, four Ak-47 rifles, two GPMG, 3,678 assorted live
ammunition, 28 magazines, eight live jackets, three 50 litres jerry-can of
fuel, two 100 litres jerry-can of fuel, assorted pieces of charms and military
magazine jackets. Owoseni described TK as a Field Marshall who commanded
different armed gangs that engaged in all forms of criminalities such as
kidnapping, high-profile bank robberies, pipeline vandalism, piracy and
cultism. He said, “TK had his signature on almost all violent crimes in Lagos,
Ondo, Delta, Ogun, Edo, and Benin Republic. Intelligence had revealed that TK,
at a time, led a gang to hijack a vessel on the waterways of Ghana.
Intelligence had also revealed that he had his base in a creek situated
somewhere in Ijagemo in Amuwo Odofin LGA of Lagos State.” Residents mourn death
of TK When news of TK’s death filtered into Ishawo Ikorodu, Arepo and Ibafo
areas of Ogun State, Ijaw communities within these areas were thrown into
mourning. A source who spoke to Crime Guard on the condition of anonymity,
disclosed that TK’s father has been crying uncontrollably since he heard the
news of his son’s death. When asked why TK’s father was crying for a son who
was a known criminal, the source explained that TK built a house for his father
and that made him very close to his father. Becoming a terror The source added
that TK took to crime after he was excluded from the amnesty programme for
Niger Delta ex-militants. The source said it was same with Ossy, another
pipeline vandal. Said the source: “I am from the same town with TK and his real
is Tokiwe Joseph. I knew him while we were growing up. I learnt he was angry
that he wasn’t included in amnesty package given to the Niger Delta
ex-militants and he came to Lagos with his boys and formed the Arepo Camp,
where they were vandalizing NNPC pipelines. He had his boys at that time but in
2013, he was arrested for being in possession of a gun, was charged to court
and remanded in prison. “When he formed the Arepo Camp, he and his boys weren’t
using guns and I don’t know how he got the gun the police found on him. While
he was in prison, Ossy came with his own boys and took over the camp. Ossy and
his boys came with guns and they accommodated all TK’s boys into their command
and became so strong that no one could confront them. They became very brutal
and were killing anybody that stood on their way. They were responsible for the
killings of many security operatives. When TK was granted bail, he came out a
very angry man. When he went to Ikorodu, he discovered that Ossy had taken over
the camp, and one Igbala was controlling the Yoruba boys and his deputy, Double
Prince was all in charge of Ishawo and Arepo. “TK then decided to form his own
camp since his boys were not ready to stay under Ossy. He took them to Ijegemo
and they chased out the man controlling that creek and started working. I
actually don’t know what made him go into armed robbery and kidnapping. I was
shocked whenever they mentioned his name in any of these bank robberies or
kidnapping across Lagos State.” Attracting the spotlight. Crime Guard
investigations revealed that before Nwosu’s wife was kidnapped in their
apartment, TK was almost completely off the radar. The IGP Special Task Force,
Anti-Pipeline Vandalism, was the only security outfit that knew about his
existence. However, the kidnapping of Nwosu’s wife, Toyin, and the subsequent
killing of nine operatives of the Department of State Service, DSS, who were in
Ikorodu to rescue the woman brought him into the larger picture. He took the
top spot of the most wanted criminal after that incident and the IGP was said
to have deployed the SIRT operatives to track him down. TK, who was said to be
highly shrewd and tactical, was said to have always taken refuge within the
creeks in Ijegemo or Arepo. Crime Guard gathered that SIRT operatives, in
October 2015, arrested one of TK’s girlfriends in Abuja and it was discovered
during interrogation that TK was planning a massive bank robbery in Lagos
State. The information was passed on to the Lagos State Police Command with no
specific area. Sources at the Lagos State Police Command told Crime Guard that the
command swung into action and was placed on red alert with more emphasis placed
on the Island and Ikorodu areas that had been previously attacked. There was
also security beef up around Ikeja and other parts of the mainland, but a few
days after, TK, led the gang and they struck at three banks in Festac Town and
carted away large sums of money, while a middle-aged woman and her baby were
killed during the operation. The source at the Lagos State Police Command
Headquarters also told Crime Guard that intelligence was also generated on the
Agbara bank robbery, but the intelligence indicated that TK and his gang would
strike at Badagry and Seme areas. According to the source,
