‘I usually steal my employers’ cars within 24hrs’

A Ghanaian, who belongs to a syndicate that specialised in stealing employers’ cars, said he was in the business to raise money. 

The suspect, Israel Damascus, 35, married to a Nigerian and a father of one, said the maximum he had worked with anyone before stealing their car was for two days.
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, said Damascus belonged to a syndicate, which was traced to Cross Rivers State. 
 According to him, eight cars were recovered from members of the syndicate. A police source said that one of the recovered cars belonged to an ambassador, while police are currently trailing two other cars sold by the syndicate.
The suspect, who came to Nigeria in 2011 in search of greener pastures, said he was initiated into the business of stealing employers’ vehicles by a friend named Jerry, whom he met in the cell of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, Lagos.
He said: “Jerry and I met in SARS’s cell here. We became friends and kept in touch. I used to work as truck driver in Port Harcourt before coming to Lagos to work as a driver. Jerry said that he would teach me how to make money. He told me to run away with my employer’s car.
“The first car was a Toyota Corolla. My boss was at a conference in Ibadan, I ran away with it. I made N400,000 from it.” 
Damascus said his first arrest by SARS was because he bought a stolen car. The suspect insisted that he had only disappeared with two cars, with the second being a Honda Assent, which eventually led to his arrest. According to him, he made away with the car while his employer stepped into a pharmacy to buy some drugs. Damascus drove straight to Ijebu-Ode, lodged at a hotel and called one Oji, who used to link him up with the buyers.
A team of police arrested them around 4am the following day. He said: “I got my last employment through an agency. I registered with them. The agency placed advert. I made N600,000 from the two cars. I’m not a robber. I only stole cars. I pray that God should forgive me for this crime.”
One of the receivers, Chukwuma Ikechukwu, 30, denied being a member of the syndicate. He said: “I help them to sell cars at a commission. I did not know they were stolen cars. They do the paper works of the cars before coming to me.”