Police arrest man who ‘killed POS operator after luring him with N4m transaction’

The Ogun state police command says it arrested one Kehinde Salihu for allegedly killing one Abiodun Odebunmi, a point of sale (POS) terminal operator, after luring him with a transaction of N4 million.

According to the police, the POS operator, who works at Aparadija axis of the state, was reported missing on April 18, when he did not return a day after he had gone to see a customer with the sum of N4 million for a POS transaction.

An attendant to the POS operator told the police that the same customer had carried out a business transaction worth N1.5 million with her boss, some days before the request of N4 million.

Abimbola Opeyemi, the Ogun police spokesperson, in a statement on Thursday, said the body of the POS operator was discovered in an uncompleted building at Arobieye area of the state.

The police spokesperson said a manhunt was launched for the suspects and it was discovered that the main suspect fled to Ekiti state, and from there, he crossed to Offa in Kwara state when he discovered the police were after him.

The suspect was said to have been arrested at the boundary between Ogun and Lagos, where he had travelled to Benin Republic to witness the court session of Sunday Adeyemo, the separatist activist better known as Sunday Igboho.

According to the police, Salihu confessed to the murder of the POS operator.

The suspect’s confessional statement was said to have led to the arrest of three other suspects who allegedly specialise in snatching cars from e-hailing taxi drivers and robbing POS operators.

The police spokesman said during interrogation, “Kehinde Salihu Jeili, who claimed to be a native of Apomu in Osun state,” confessed that he killed the victim.

“He confessed further that he deliberately lured the victim to Ota where he and his gang members were waiting for him with the money he was asked to bring,” the police said.

He said they “macheted him to death after collecting the money from him” after which they burnt the victim’s body.

The suspect was quoted as saying they often target Uber and POS operators, saying one of them will pretend to be a passenger, “and will lure such driver to where his members were waiting”, after which he “will be hacked to death and the car will be taken away to their receiver”.