I Make N100,000 Daily From Sales Of Stolen Phone

A suspected criminal, Godwin Okafor, who specialised in robbery and pick-pocketing, arrested by operatives of the State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Unit, popularly called taskforce, said he makes between N80,000 and N100,000 every day selling stolen phones.

The suspect, nabbed weekend, on Costain Bridge around Surulere area by Enforcement and Monitoring patrol team of the agency, said: “I make between N80,000 and N100,000 every day after selling stolen phones and other valuables from the operation.

“We have been in this robbery and pick-pocketing business for long as we dispossessed our passengers of their valuables such as wallets, jewellery, including phones, which we sold as fairly used to the public.”

Godwin Okafor, 31, of 127, Ojo Road, Ajegunle, during interrogation said he started as a bus conductor 15 years ago before he transformed into pick-pocket.

He confessed further that he and his gang had operated at different parts of the state, including Oshodi to Mile 2, Obalende, Pen-Cinema, Agege, Ojota and Ikorodu Road and that any passenger who refused to cooperate with them was beaten and thrown out of their commercial bus on high speed.

The task force chairman, CSP Olayinka Egbeyemi, said a preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect was a ring leader of a four-man criminal gang who specialises in picking pockets and robbing the public of their valuables such as phones, wallets and jewellery with the use of a commercial bus at different parts of the state.

He explained: “The suspect and three others who are currently at large, was nabbed after they jumped down from a commercial bus on top of Costain Bridge immediately they suspected that a patrol team of the agency was chasing them from Ojuelegba.”

Also, the spokesman for Lagos State Police Command, DSP Elkana Bala, said five suspected members of separate robbery gangs that specialised in attacking motorists trapped in traffic along Oshodi/Apapa expressway and Mile-Two/Badagry Expressway, Lagos, have been arrested by the surveillance team deployed by Lagos State Police Command to checkmate traffic robbery.

During interrogation, the suspects, according to Bala, confessed to having capitalised on the situation along the Oshodi/Apapa expressway, Daleko, Mushin and its environs to carry out nefarious activities.

Bala said: “ Taking advantage of the traffic congestion, the suspects robbed motorists and other unsuspecting members of the public of their valuables such as laptops, handsets and cash.

“They confessed during interrogation to have stolen phones and bags from victims as well as a bag containing N25,000, belonging to one Oyebanji Ibukun, a woman who resides at Waheed Ologunju Street, in Oke-Afa, Isolo area before they were apprehended.