Alhaja Faith Balogun robbed with
the likes of Abiodun Ogunjobi, alias Godogodo, and Goke. These two men were
also feared in the robbery world. She had been named several times by robbers
arrested by SARS in different states to the extent that she became one of the
most featured wanted female robbers on Police lists.
Prior to her death, Balogun told
the Police that she was 37 years old, but she is believed older than that.
She had three kids, two girls and
a boy, but they are all from different fathers. She was part the gang which
attacked a new generation bank in Ketu, Lagos State, where a pregnant bank
manager was killed in October 2008.
The pregnant bank manager was
shot 5 times in the head after she refused to cooperate with the bandits. They
shot her several times after up the bank’s door with explosives and finally
gained access into the banking hall.
Balogun and Godogodo and other
dreaded armed robbers were part of the gangs that raced through Lagos State on
September 9, 2012, (after they robbed a Bureau de Change at Agege) shooting,
maiming and killing in what many residents in the state latter dubbed “Black
Sunday”.
Although the Police had heard a
lot of sleazy stories about Balogun, many of them had not set eyes on her.
She was arrested by the Special
Anti-Roberry Squad (SARS) in 2009, investigated and charged to court but was
however released and allowed to go by the court. At that time, nobody knew she
was the infamous “Alhaja Faith, queen of Robbers”.
In 2013, Balogun was arrested on
the charges of attempting to buy a stolen car. The Policeman who arrested her
did not know that they were dealing with the notorious ‘Alhaja Faith’.
Acting on a hunch, the Police searched
every nook and cranny of her home in search of incriminating items like guns
but came back empty handed.
After three months of detaining
her, SARS decided to let her go since they could not pin anything on her.
While waiting for someone to come
and bail her, she walked into one of the police officers’ office, unaware that
a robbery suspect was inside with the anti-robbery men.
The suspect immediately
identified her as the infamous Alhaja Faith. A Police source said that she fell
to the ground and started weeping profusely as she could not deny not knowing
the suspect and also knew that she had come to the end of the road.
Balogun confessed to her numerous
crimes and how she spent seven months in Kirikiri female prisons previously,
because of her lover. She also claimed that money changed hands and she was
released.
Alhaja Balogun died in the
custody of SARS, Ikeja, Lagos State, as a result of complications arising from
HIV/AIDS in December 2013, just as Police Detectives were still gathering more
dirt on her criminal activities.
Balogun was said to have slumped
and died at SARS on a day she had just returned from the General Hospital,
Ikeja.
It was also gathered that Balogun
had also been suffering from and receiving treatment for Tuberculosis.
Source: theeagleonline,
Ourpage9ja
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