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Car thief runs into stormy water

Posted by By JULIANA FRANCIS on 2005/04/21 | Views: 573 |

Car thief runs into stormy water


A man who calls the act of stealing cars from parking lots in Abuja 'Open and Close" has been arrested at the Surulere area of Lagos. Chinedu Nwafor said his friend, Emeka, introduced him to the world of 'Open and Close," which is breaking into people's cars. He revealed that Emeka had travelled to Saudi Arabia to further his career in stealing.

A man who calls the act of stealing cars from parking lots in Abuja 'Open and Close" has been arrested at the Surulere area of Lagos. Chinedu Nwafor said his friend, Emeka, introduced him to the world of 'Open and Close," which is breaking into people's cars. He revealed that Emeka had travelled to Saudi Arabia to further his career in stealing.

Nwafor was held on February 7, and a Honda Civic car marked CV945ABJ was recovered from him. He confessed to have removed the car from where it was parked at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja.

Though detectives accused him of being part of a robbery gang, Nwafor hotly denied it, saying: 'I am into ‘Open and Close' business. I don't, and have never carried a gun since I was born. ‘Open and Close' is using master-key to open another person's car. We collect anything valuable in the car, especially money. It was my friend, Emeka, who taught me the job."

According to Nwafor, he usually looks for a file, which he shapes to fit into the lock of a car he wishes to steal. He said it was never his intention to stray into the path of crime but circumstances beyond his control forced him. He explained that he was making out fine on his clothing business in Abuja when government suddenly demolished his shop, adding that within a short time, life became pretty difficult for him and his family of three. Nwafor said he went to Emeka for some loan to keep body and soul together. But instead, Emeka taught him how to fish in stormy waters, which landed him in police net.

His area of operation was Abuja, but he felt he could sell the cars on time in Lagos and had decided to venture into the land he had heard so much about. He claimed he would not have been caught if not that his supposed customers turned out to be policemen in civilian cloth.

Nwafor said: 'I was set up by the policemen. I didn't know they were policemen. I thought they truly wanted to buy the Honda car. I regret this whole thing, but it was temptation and problem that pushed me into it."
He further revealed that the highest money he had made since he started ‘Open and Close' operation was N200,000

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