By Emmanuel Udom / Senior Correspondent, Lagos
A
Liberian footballer and a Ghanaian national were among the five suspected
robbers arrested by police detectives in Lagos in connection with multi-million
naira inter-state robbery incidents.
The Liberian, Moses Andrel (25) and
the Ghanaian (30) were the two members of the robbery gang that specialize in
snatching exotic cars from their owners, disfiguring the cars and in turn sell
them to unsuspecting buyers in some states across Nigeria.
Other members of the gang are Mahmud
Abdulakeem Tanko (48), Musa Yusuf (27) and Abayomi Okanlawon Adebayo (53).
They were all paraded before
journalists on Thursday in Lagos.
Kayode Aderanti, the state Police
Commissioner disclosed that the command had to move against the robbers,
following series of reported cases of robberies involved in car snatching in
recent times.
According to Aderanti, Abba Kyari, a
Superintendent of Police (SP) and officer-in-charge of the Anti-Robbery Squad
(SARS), Lagos state police command had deployed his men and technology to track
down the suspects.
The tracking of the suspects paid
off eventually as they were arrested in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Lagos and Benin
with 15 stolen cars, some of which were sold to unsuspecting buyers after they
have been reconfigured.
Speaking with Daily Independent
during the parade, Moses Andrel, the Liberian footballer said that he escaped
from Liberia when his country was going through civil war in 2009 and arrived
Nigeria, where he alongside other Liberians were camped at the Nigeria Refugee
camp in Kwara State.
“However, I left the camp in 2013 in
search of a driving job and along the line; I met Israel Nana, a Ghanaian, who
linked me up with the notorious gang members”, he said.
According to Andrel, who claimed to
have played professional football with a team of his country, Stibikor Football
Club of Gambia and on trials for the Bafalo Football Club of Togo and Uyo
United Football of Akwa Ibom state said he was arrested at one of the branches
of the United Bank for Africa in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state.
His words “I had gone to the bank
with my ATM card to cash the money paid into my account after a car was
successfully snatched, re-packaged and sold and parts of the proceeds paid into
my account”.
Also speaking with our
correspondent, Abayomi Okanlowon Adebayo, whom the police said is notorious for
changing engine and chassis numbers of stolen cars, said he has been involved
in the criminal deals for five years.
Adebayo, a 53-year-old welder from
Epe, Lagos state, said that one Alhaji Faka linked him with the business of
grinding the engines of stolen vehicles, after which he could change the
chassis numbers to the one given to him by members of the gang.
Adebayo claimed that he was paid
N25, 000 for the last deal of grinding the engines of some stolen cars and
changing the chassis numbers before the cars could be sold to unsuspecting
buyers.
Source: www.dailyindependentng.com
IT IS A GOOD START AND I WISH YOU SINCERELY WELL
ReplyDelete