The police have nabbed three suspected members of a robbery gang, which specialised in snatching exotic vehicles from women in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja.
The trio , identified as Ego Ike, Obinna Igwe and Adamu Nuhu, were arrested at their hideout in Abuja and Kaduna State, after they robbed a female staff of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS)of her vehicle, while she was returning home from work.
The suspects were said to have taken the vehicle, a 2016 Toyota Corolla, to Katsina State, before it was smuggled into Niger.
According to The Nation ,upon interrogation, the suspects explained that they targeted women because women can’t put up stiff resistance like men.
The suspects also disclosed that most of the vehicles they robbed were mainly Toyota products because of the huge demand for it in the market.
Ike, 30, was quoted as saying that he took to crime because he lost all his life savings to gambling.
He said: “ I am a native of Anambra State and I went into crime because I lost the N6 million I was using to run my clothing business to gambling. I am a primary school dropout. I was formerly a spare parts dealer at the Ladipo market, Lagos, but I moved to Abuja in search of greener pasture and when I couldn’t find my bearing, I pressured my father to sell his only land in the village and he sent me to Istanbul Turkey, with the money. I stayed in Istanbul for three years; I worked and saved close to N6 million. Then I started importing clothes into Nigeria. I was supplying several shops around Abuja and Lagos State, but in 2016, one of my friends introduced me to a sport betting game and I lost all my money.
‘’My resident permits in Istanbul expired and I had no money to renew it. I became frustrated and I met Linus in one of my brother’s houses in Jai area of Abuja and we became friends. He introduced me to an armed robbery gang which had Obinna and Yellow as members and we stole a Toyota RAV4 Sport Utility Vehicle from a woman who was driving into her house in Shafar Road, Abuja,and we took the car to Kaduna.
‘’We gave the car to Nuhu, and he offered to pay N200,000. We also accosted another woman in Buhari area of Abuja. Another woman driving a Toyota Matrix and stopped in front of a shop to buy something; we approached her, snatched the car from her and took it to Kaduna.
‘’We were paid N270,000 for the car. We didn’t know that the woman who owned the Toyota Matrix works with the Federal Road Safety Corps. The third car we stole was also from a woman who was driving a Toyota Corolla car at Kado Estate in Abuja. We used Yellow’s car to collect the woman’s car. We blocked the woman’s car with Yellow’s car and collected it from the woman. We took the car that night to Niger Republic, but at the Katsina border, Linus and I came down from the car, took a bike and crossed into the country, while Yellow and a man, who I don’t know, took the car into Niger Republic but the Nigerien police stopped them and arrested them. We targeted women because we don’t use guns and women are an easy catch and most of them are not security conscious. We target Toyota cars because they are easy to sell and the demand for it is on the high side.”
Emeh Achanga,the CEO of the Miss Petite Nigeria Brand is a lawyer turned blogger. She is very passionate about writing, with several publications and awards to her credit .She is currently working on publishing a collection of short stories which are basically a memoir about her exciting true experiences.
