Police operatives in Ondo State have arrested four suspected armed robbers following the killing of their gang member over formula for sharing their stolen funds.

The suspects: Blessing Okon, 20, Gabriel Japheth, 26, Osha Phenus, 23, and Gbenga Timothy, 22, had on October 28, macheted one of their gang members, Shahabi Jabi, to death for allegedly shortchanging them after one of their operations.

Confessing to the crime during their parade at the police headquarters in Akure, Okon said the deceased defrauded them by giving them N50,000 out of the N200,000 robbery loot.

According to him, Japheth, who was infuriated by the greediness of Jabi, macheted the deceased to death for keeping N150,000 to himself.

He said: “We were the ones who killed the man. But my friends accused me of telling the police the truth—that we killed him. “It was ‘Black’ Japheth, who cut him with a cutlass. All of us, including the deceased, used to rob. After our last operation, we realised N200,000, but he decided to give the three of us N50,000 instead of sharing it equally.”

Japheth, however, said: “I wasn’t the one that cut the man. I was only implicated because I followed them to the scene.

“It was after others were arrested that I was mentioned to be part of those that killed him.”

Addressing journalists over the development, the Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Asabi, said: “On October 28, the Police informed us about an attack, that one Shahabi Jadi, ‘m’ was macheted to death along Ehinowo camp via Ondo town.

“Upon receipt of the information, the police, through intelligence gathering, arrested one Blessing Okon, ‘m’, 20. During interrogation, the young man gave viable information that led to the arrest of the suspects.

“The suspect further stated that the deceased was a member of their robbery squad, but they had a scuffle when he cheated them and refused to give them their share of the proceeds.”

Asabi added that other suspected criminals, who will soon be arraigned, were also arrested by the command.