‘I make more money stealing bikes, than driving buses

A father of three said that he abandoned commercial bus driving to embrace stealing motorbikes because he made more money stealing motorbikes.

The suspect, Ismaila Bankole 28, was last week nabbed with two others, Lateef Rasheed, 26, and Kazeem Iyanda, 22. They were held for stealing motorbikes from unsuspecting riders who parked them on the streets.

The former commercial bus driver confessed that their area of operation was Iyana Ipaja.

Bankole said: “One of the reasons I resorted to stealing motorbikes was to cater for my three children. I’m the only one they have. My wife is late. I was formerly a commercial bus driver, but the job wasn’t permanent. It wasn’t paying off for me. For instance, when I work half day, I make about N1, 800. But when we steal a motorbike, we sell it for N20, 000. We share the money among ourselves. We just started doing this business. We have succeeded in stealing just two motorcycles.”