Posted by By MURPHY GANAGANA, Abuja on
With a full length wooden casket that momentarily evoked fear and total submission to their commands, four men claimed they could spin mega bucks in foreign currency for anyone desirous of bidding farewell to poverty.
With a full length wooden casket that momentarily evoked fear and total submission to their commands, four men claimed they could spin mega bucks in foreign currency for anyone desirous of bidding farewell to poverty.
But rather than having their fortunes changed overnight as promised, several innocent and gullible Nigerians have buried their meager resources in the casket and recoiled into their shells in pain and regret after the scales had eventually fallen off their eyes.
For over three years, members of the syndicate operating in the outskirts of Abuja, the nation's capital city, smiled to the banks after milking their victims dry. And it had been a smooth sail for the super fraudsters until early this month when they were unmasked by detectives of the Special Anti-robbery Squad [SARS] at the Federal Capital Territory police command.
The men identified as Rasaq Awoniyi, Alfa Taye Olore, Omolola Onyeniye, and Asimi Awoniyi, were nabbed following a complaint by one of their victims who alleged that after luring him with convincing tales of how he would transform into a multi-millionaire with the speed of an hurricane, the tall dream was abruptly truncated by his supposed messiahs. But that was not before the victim (names withheld) had been duped of a cash sum of N680,000, shortly after he was introduced to one Akinjola who claimed to be a spiritualist resident at Mararaba, an Abuja suburb, with powers to make people rich.
In the process of making him rich, the victim was reportedly taken to one Chief Onoja's shrine, where he was further deceived with a brown wooden casket which the fraudsters claimed had special powers to produce US dollars and pounds sterling. After several spiritual "cleansing exercises" without sparkling notes of dollars and pounds sterling pilling up as envisaged, the victim suspected a foul play and reported the case to the police. Whether the police would be able to recover his entire life savings which he invested into the botched deal is presently his headache.
In the meantime, buck-passing and denials is the game for members of the syndicate who are undaunted despite seemingly overwhelming evidence linking them to be angels of doom. Haruna John, the FCT police commissioner, said the suspects would soon be arraigned to court on charges of criminal conspiracy and cheating. So also is the duo of Salisu Tijani and Abdulfatai Idrisu, both deportees from the United Kingdom who allegedly heralded their return to Nigeria with an uncommon display of professional dexterity in car theft. Using a master key, the suspects had stolen several parked vehicles at their Lagos base before relocating to Abuja where they were caught last week while perpetrating their evil trade.
A master key, dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp, and other incriminating items were said to have been recovered from the suspects who had swelled the number of men of the underworld operating within the FCT in recent times. No fewer than 35 suspected criminals including 25 armed robbers were paraded last week by the FCT police commissioner who also said a total of 35 vehicles of assorted brands were recovered by his men in the past three weeks. But there are reports of increased incidents of armed robbery and other violent crimes in the nation's seat of power.
The police chief, however, dismissed such insinuations as untrue, as he said most of the incidents reported, occurred outside his command. Hear him: "In recent times, I have received calls from a large number of residents in the FCT concerned about some reported violent robberies on Asokoro - Zuba road and other areas said to be within the FCT. "Unfortunately, though some of the robberies may have occurred, they did not occur anywhere under the FCT police command. Areas such as Mararaba and Madallah consistently mentioned as venues of such violent crimes are not under the FCT police command but in Nasarawa and Niger states respectively".