 |
| Godwin |
A 28-year-old man held for allegedly
snatching tricycles from riders has begged policemen to ensure that his wife
and mother didn’t know that he had been arrested.
The suspect, Emmanuel Godwin, said
that the news of his arrest might plunge his mum and wife to their death.
He also confessed that he was
stealing the tricycles because he wanted to get rich quick and solved most of
his financial problems.
Godwin, a father of two, said: “Till
date, my wife isn’t aware that I’d been arrested. I don’t want her to know
because she’s hypertensive. Even my mother is hypertensive. I also don’t want
her to know. I had earlier been arrested by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS),
Zone II, Onikan, over the same offence. What made me to go into tricycles
snatching was because I lost two of my tricycles to task force men from Alausa,
Ikeja. I was a barber before I joined a gang that used to snatch tricycles. If
I’m released, I’ll not steal tricycles again!”
After his arrest by SARS Zone II, he
was charged to court. He later found his way out. He went to his old crime and
now arrested again by SARS, Ikeja, Lagos State Police Command.
A police source said: “The suspect used
to pose as an innocent passenger to steal tricycles. He would hire a tricycle
and tell the rider where he was going. The place would always be a somewhere
convenient for him. Once the rider gets to the venue, Godwin would push him off
and rode off with the tricycle. He usually picks venue where nobody would hear
a rider calling for help. He also looks
for tricycles that are parked along the street or in front of a compound. He also
targets Tricycles Park near restaurants. Once he sees any, he would there to
eat, after that; he would come and ride away with it.”
Preliminary investigation by SARS
showed that Godwin was first arrested by SARS operatives, Zone II on January 1,
2015 for stealing a tricycle.
Godwin was arrested last week after
he stole another tricycle and the owner decided to lodge a complaint with SARS.
In an operation led by the Officer in charge of SARS, Abba Kyari, Godwin was
trailed to Ijora, where he had sold a stolen tricycle.
He was arrested after he was asked
to come and collect money from a buyer who needed tricycle urgently and had
cash to pay. Godwin was not aware that the supposed buyer was a member of SARS
operatives.
Godwin said: “I’m a tricycle snatcher,
not an armed robber! I don’t use gun. I steal from parks and when I ask
tricycle rider for a test drive and he allows me, I run away with the tricycle.
I used to sell each tricycle I steal at the rate of N60, 000. I have stolen
about five tricycles and sold them to a man known as Aye at Ijora. I also sold
two to one Rilwan. The market price of a tricycle is N400, 000. Aye still owes
me for two tricycles I sold to him while RiLwan owes me one tricycle.”
According to him, he used to operate
with a gang before, but decided to go solo. He initiated into the gang by his
friend called, a drug addict, called Sodiq Babasunda, now late.
He said: “I didn’t know that they
were tricycle snatchers until they used me five times to go and deliver to a
buyer at Ijora. They used to give me N5, 000 after each delivery. When I felt
that they were cheating me, I decided to go solo. The first tricycle I sold, I
got N60, 000. I gave N25, 000 to my late colleague for helping me to get buyer.”
The State’s Command spokesman, Mr.
Kenneth Nwosu confirmed the arrest of Godwin.
No comments:
Post a Comment