'Customs officers pushed me into sponsoring armed robbers’

Forty-five-year-old Gbenga Olatunji has revealed why he used to sponsor armed robbers to snatch cars around Kwara and Lagos states.

Olatunji, married with a kid, said it was never his intention to take to crime, adding that he was pushed into it by officers of the Nigerian Customs Services.

Olatunji’s downfall started after the robbery gang which he used to sponsor snatched a car belonging to one Okechukwu Sunday.

The victim reported the incident to the detectives attached to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) Lagos State Command, headed by Mr. Abba Kyari. According to Sunday, his black Toyota Camry, marked, SMK966CF was snatched by armed robbers.

Olatunji was arrested alongside Lateef Ogunleye 35 on March 11 and 14, 2015 in Lagos and Ilorin.

Although Olatunji and Ogunleye were arrested, other members of the gang disappeared. Ogunleye said his crime was in buying stolen vehicles from the gang of armed robbers at giveaway prices.

A police source said that Olatunji used to supply the gang members with ammunitions and information on strategic places to carry out their operations.

It was also discovered that both men had been on the police wanted list for ages.

The police source said: “Ogunleye had been arrested and charged to court three times over similar issue. After he was bailed, he went back to crime. Olatunji had also been one of the most wanted convict that the police had long wanted to arrest.”

 The suspects were also discovered to usually dough out N70, 000.00 to each of the gang robbers after every successful operation. Police fingered Olatunji as kingpin of the gang.

Olatunji confessed that he had been sponsoring robbers for such operation for over six years.

He stated that he was initiated into the crime by one Dele, who initially used to sell cars to him at a ridiculously cheap price.

Olatunji said: “Dele used to bring the cars from Cotonu, to sell to them. I sell them in Nigeria. I have lots of buyers. I went into car snatching after four cars, Toyota Camry 2000 model, Toyota Highlander, Toyota Camry 2008 model, Toyota Vensa and Honda Pilot, which Mr. Dele sent to me from across the border, were seized by Customs officers at the border. They said the cars were contraband because I brought them in through a wrong route.”

Olatunji said that he started having problem with the police after Dele was arrested and confessed during interrogation that he used to sell the cars to him.

He recalled: “The police started hunting for me.  When they came to my house at Ibadan, I wasn’t around. They arrested my brother, Bolarin Olatunji, an undergraduate of Kwara Polytechnic. I tried to get his bail by giving someone money to facilitate his release, but the person disappeared with my money.”

Olatunji was however arrested at Ibadan, Iwo road on March 13, 2015, around 10pm.

 Stating how he was arrested, he said: “I was arrested through Tolani who used to snatch cars for me. Tolani called me, saying he had a car to sell. When I went to meet him at the agree venue, I didn’t quickly noticed that he wasn’t alone in the car. I was uneasy and quickly paid him. I got down, entered my car and drove off. I didn’t know that the police followed me to watch where I entered. The following day, men from SARS came to arrest me.”

Olatunji complained bitterly of the business, insisting that it was tough to survive on it. He explained that he had not been able to save money from the business because he was always facing problems from different security agencies. He said he had no permanent home and wished he had focus on sand dredging which he had always wanted to do.

Ogunleye, a married father of two, said that he sells phones and accessories at Computer Village in Lagos. According to him, he got into the business through his friend Sule in 2012.

He narrated: “It was Sule who introduced me to the gang members who used to give stolen cars to sell.  I don’t sponsor people to steal cars for me like my colleague, Olatunji. I only buy available stolen cars and resale to people.”

He said that even though he didn’t like the job, he stayed put because he wanted to make fast money to meet family responsibilities. “I had to look for an alternative means to augment my usual business. Within the first two years I started the business, I made up to N3, 000,000.00. The first car I bought was a Toyota Camry. I bought it at the rate of N2million from Femi, now in Kirikiri Prison over similar issue. I sold the car for N2.5million.”

He said that he travelled to South Africa in 2013 and stayed for 11 months, hoping to start a new life there. He confessed that he took this trip after he heard that the police in Nigeria were hunting for him.

“My friend Daniel in Nigeria used to give me information about the police hunt for me. Daniel later called and told me that the Officer in Charge of SARS, Abba Kyari was coming to South Africa to look for me. I was at Pito then, I immediately ran to Shanshaguvi, a village in South Africa.”

He tried to get a job and settled down in South Africa, but issues of citizenship passport, dogged his footsteps. He reluctantly returned to Nigeria, but, “unfortunately I returned to my old criminal life. This is what led me to end up in this place today.”