Suspected robber videos colleagues during operation
The Lagos State Police Command has
arrested a 23-year-old robber, Prince Nwafor, with a visual recording of
a robbery operation that he took part in.
According to police authorities, the
suspect is part of a robbery gang that specialises in snatching vehicles
in Lagos and selling them at low prices.
The gang was also alleged to have robbed in Ebonyi and Anambra states.
The recording, which was captured with a
camera phone, showed how Nwafor’s gang members robbed a motorist of his
car in an undisclosed location. He, however, did not appear in the
recording.
The police said it was believed that
Nwafor intended to release the incriminating video on the Internet for
allegedly cheating him every time they went for operation.
Nwafor, however, told PUNCH Metro that he made the recordings so he could blackmail his colleagues with it.
He said his colleagues usually cheated
him when sharing their loot and the recording was meant to be used as
a
leverage to force them to share the robbery loot equally.
He said, “I was a commercial motorcycle
rider but when the Lagos State Government began to restrict our
operation, I abandoned the job and started working as a labourer at
construction sites in Lagos. However, the money was too little.
“When I travelled to my village in
Ebonyi State, I met Kingsley Chibuzor, who told me that he came to the
state to snatch some cars and asked me to join him. Since I needed
money, I joined his gang. However, they were always cheating me when
they were sharing the money.
“In the first robbery operation I did
with them, we stole two cars and sold them at N800, 000. We were three,
which means I should have received at least N250, 000. Unfortunately, I
was given only N100, 000.
“During the second operation in
Abakaliki, they cheated me again. So the third time, I used my camera
phone to record the entire operation. I kept it to be used as leverage
so that if they cheated me again, I can use it to blackmail them.”
The suspect said things, however, did
not work as he planned because after another operation, he was not
contacted by the gang members.
He said after a lot of efforts on his
part, he located them and discovered that another member of the gang,
Enebeli Ozoemena, held his (Nwafor)N200, 000 share.
He said, “We had a big quarrel and
everybody went their separate ways until we were arrested by operatives
of the Special Anti Robbery Squad.”
When asked what he did with the money he
made from his robberies, the suspect said, “I went to Ebonyi State,
where I had my wedding. Weddings are expensive. Soon after, my wife gave
birth to a son and we were happy, but when I left the gang, I became so
broke that I had to sell some of my things in order to feed.
“My parents, my wife and child had been
killed during a communal clash between Amedo village in Ebonyi and Adama
Village in Cross River.”
PUNCH Metro had reported last
week Wednesday that a prison escapee, Chibuzor, who is the alleged gang
leader, and Enebeli, were arrested by the police.
Our correspondent learnt that through Chibuzor’s confessions, Nwafor was arrested.
SARS operatives, who made the arrests, found the visual recordings of the robbery operation on Nwafor’s mobile phone.
Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi
Braide, who confirmed the arrest to our correspondent on the telephone,
said some of the stolen vehicles had been recovered, adding that efforts
were on to recover the remaining ones stolen by the gang.
