Posted by By CHRISTOPHER OJI on
It was a day of reckoning for a six-man trans-border armed robbery gang, which specialised in snatching exotic cars in Nigeria and selling them in Cotonou, as they have been arrested by the Zone 2 police command.
• Police smash trans-border car snatching syndicate
It was a day of reckoning for a six-man trans-border armed robbery gang, which specialised in snatching exotic cars in Nigeria and selling them in Cotonou, as they have been arrested by the Zone 2 police command.
The gang was smashed at Agihiti, a border town in Ogun State by a special team of detectives set up by the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in-charge of the zone, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar.
The second in command of the gang, Segun Adekola, told Daily Sun that the leader of the gang, "is a soldier. He is on the run. He was the person who formed this gang and provided the arms and ammunition we used during operations."
He revealed that their target were exotic cars like Hillux Jeeps and Toyota Avensis, adding: "Any car that is not exotic and expensive, we don't touch it. We specialized in snatching exotic cars."
Adekola, who gave a graphic account of how their operations were carried out, said: "Really, we get our orders for vehicles and the brands before we go for them. A car dealer would snap pictures of the car he wanted and immediately we succeeded, we drove the car to the car dealers in Cotonou."
He revealed that most of the cars bought from Cotonou and Togo by Nigerians "are the cars we stole from Nigeria and sold to the car dealers there. The dealers would refurbish and resell them to Nigerians. Cotonou and Togo are our base. We have up to 10 car dealers that are our customers in each of the places I mentioned."
On how they were approached by the car dealers to do such a business with them, he said: "I told you that every arrangement was made by ‘Lanre, a soldier. He fixed everything and we don't ask him questions. He is our master. He recruited us. He provided the arms, ammunition and other implements we used in our business. He equally funded the gang.
"Really, I can't tell you how much we made because the soldier planned everything. He alone knew how much he was making but as for myself, I got up to N200, 000 monthly."
Adekola, who claimed that the gang had not killed anybody during operations, blamed the Ogun State government for his woes.
"Yes, if not for the government that broke my shed, perhaps, I would not have joined this gang. It was when I came to Lagos to search for a greener pasture that I met a soldier at a smoking joint and he took me home and later introduced me into armed robbery."
However, AIG Abubakar told Daily Sun that Lagos and Ogun state residents would now sleep with their two eyes closed because of the arrest of the gang.
He said: "This gang has terrorized people in Lagos so much that they snatched cars at gunpoint and removed cars from their parks. Now, the issue of missing vehicles will reduce seriously."
He revealed that other gang members on the run would soon be arrested as the police were closing in on them.
He assured Lagos and Ogun indigenes of his commitment to fight crime in the states but appealed to individuals to give information to the police on any criminal or criminal activities in their areas.