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According to Punch, the ten-man gang, with other members still at large, raided mostly shops of phone dealers, stealing 70 smartphones and Ipads which were worth about N1.5m.
When interrogated, one of the suspects, 35 year old father of three, Onyenge Osanie said
"We usually work with phone dealers in the market who specialise in selling stolen phones. When we steal, they sell, and they then settle us. But later on, some of them defaulted, and we attacked their shops. It was not as if we robbed them, we only came to ask for our money. On that day, we had taken only 10 phones before the police apprehended us. I had initially escaped, but two gang members who were caught at the scene later brought the police to arrest me." he said
Another gang member, 27-year-old Eboh said he joined the gang because of his unemployment status "What we learnt initially was that a market chairman was coming to give out money but he later failed to show up. That was when we decided to deal with the traders. When we got to the shops, we broke their glasses and carted away expensive phones. I joined the gang because I did not have a job. I have been living in hardship with my family."he said
Another gang members, 22 year old Michael who claims to be an ex truck driver said their robbery act wasn't deliberate
"I was working as a truck driver before I met them. I had gone out with the gang on three occasions to rob in the market. We only took advantage of the commotion of the market to rob them. It was not deliberate," he said.
Police Public Relations officer, DSP Kenneth Nwosu while confirming their arrest, said investigation is going on the matter.
The boy, identified by his initials M.E.A., was believed to be a member of a leftist organisation, the Hurriyet newspaper reported.
He delivered a speech on Wednesday in the central Anatolian city of Konya, a bastion of Erdogan's Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP), in memory of a young secular teacher killed by Islamists in 1930, according to the newspaper.
The boy, who was arrested by police at school, is now facing up to four years in prison if convicted on the charge.
It was the latest controversial arrest in Turkey in recent weeks. Recent police raids on media outlets affiliated with Erdogan's top foe, the US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, sparked an angry exchange with the European Union, which said the arrests undermined media freedom.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu supported the court's decision on the juvenile's arrest.
"Everyone must respect the office of president whoever he is," Davutoglu said, quoted in Turkish media.
In his testimony to prosecutors, the boy denied links with any political party and said that the local governor's office granted permission for the commemoration ceremony organised through social media.
"I've made the statement in question. I have no intent to insult," he reportedly said.
The boy's lawyer, Baris Ispir, submitted a petition to the court, together with around 100 colleagues who came from Istanbul in a show of support.
"Even if he is convicted, he is 16 years old which requires a one-third reduction in his penalty," the lawyer said, according to the private Dogan news agency.
Riza Turmen, lawmaker of the secular opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), denounced the arrest as a violation of the UN charter on children's rights.
"Regimes taking children out of classes by police force and putting them in jail are fascist regimes," Turmen, a former judge at the European Court of Human Rights, wrote on Twitter.
"This goes against the UN charter on children's rights."
Turkey's government faced an unprecedented wave of protests in 2013 against what was seen as authoritarian policies from Erdogan, who was then prime minister.
The AKP government was shaken by a vast corruption scandal last December that dragged down four ministers facing accusations of bribery and influence-peddling.
Erdogan, who was elected president in August, angrily accused his former ally-turned-foe Gulen of concocting the graft scandal.
Thirty people were arrested in raids earlier this month against those deemed to have links to Gulen.
Most have now been released but a court has remanded in custody on terrorism charges the head of the pro-Gulen Samanyolu TV and three former police chiefs. It also issued an arrest warrant for Gulen himself.
In power since 2003, Erdogan has brought relative stability to Turkey after years of rocky coalition governments and an economic meltdown in 2001.
But what critics describe as his increasingly authoritarian style and zero-tolerance of criticism have proved a major test for democracy in the country which has long sought to join the European Union.