'We drug cab drivers to snatch their vehicles’

An ex-convict has revealed how he and other men used to drug commercial drivers and snatch their vehicles.

The suspect, Temidire Oriowo had only just been released from prison for manslaughter, before he joined the gang that  drugs cab drivers.

He said that he and his gang members used to drug sausage rolls and drinks of the drivers, to lure them to sleep, before making away with their vehicles.

He said: “What we do is to put the drug into a gala or any bottled drink while in the car of the driver. Part of the operation is that we dress well as if I’m going to board a private vehicle or hurrying to a board meeting.
“During the course of the journey, I’ll ask the
driver to help me purchase two sausages from vendors who sell in the traffic. Immediately the driver gives me the sausages, I’ll subtly exchange one of them with the drugged one. I’ll give him the drugged sausage in appreciation for assisting me to buy them. The driver unsuspecting driver will accept and starts eating it. A few minutes later, he would start dozing. Once he falls asleep, I’ll push him out and drive off with the vehicle. The first time I did it, I succeeded in snatching a Toyota Camry at Okene which I handed over to Kazeem. He sold it and gave me N70, 000. He promised to balance me N170, 000.”

Oriowo, a welder and father of two, said he was in prison for four years before his release just a few weeks ago. According to him, it was in prison he met one Akeem Kazeem, who would later convinced him to become part of the gang that used to drug drivers and snatch their vehicles.
He said that he was still in prison when Kazeem was released, but he later went looking for Kazeem after his release.

Oriowo said:  “Immediately I was released, I travelled to Ogun State to meet Kazeem. Fortunately for me,
Kazeem just sold a stolen Golf 3 car to a client for N200, 000. He gave me N20, 000. He also gave me some sleeping pills which he instructed me to be using to drug private car owners before snatching their vehicle from them.”
Explaining how he was arrested, Oriowo said that Kazeem gave him a Toyota Camry car to sell after he approached him for assistance.

“That was the first time Kazeem gave me a vehicle to sell. I had to travel to Ile-Ife to transport the vehicle to Lagos,” said Oriowo. “Since I didn’t have any contact or buyer, I called a contact in the prison, who gave me another contact detail. I however didn’t know that the contact he gave me was an undercover policeman.”

The police said Oriowo was arrested based on a tip-off that a member of an armed robbery gang wanted to sell one of their stolen vehicles. The arrest was further facilitated by the undercover police who alerted his colleagues that Oriowo was about to sell the car to him, thinking he was a genuine buyer.