Evans buys guns from militants-Member

*Cash in foreign currency discovered in Evan’s house

* Traders: Some people in our markets are informants

As more information continued to emerge about Mr Chukwudi Dumeme Onuamadike aka Evans, the suspected billionaire kidnapper, one of his gang members has revealed that the suspect used to buy weapons from militants operating in the creeks.

The gang member, Suoyo Paul, disclosed that it when Evans came to the creeks to buy gun from militants that he got to know him.

This revelation just as many Nigerians, especially citizens of Lagos State are asking if Evans might have connection with General America and his gang of kidnappers, who swooped on the Lagos State Model College, Igbonla, Epe, abducting six students.

When Evans was asked if he was working with the militants that abducted the six students, he snapped: “No! I don’t know anything about that.”

According to Paul, he met Evans in 2008 during the agitation of militants in South-South. Paul noted that Evans came into the creek to meet his boss.

His words: “Evans came into the creek to meet my boss. He discussed something with my boss. When he was leaving the creek, he left with three rifles. After that first time, I noticed that he used to come into the creeks most times to stay with us. He sometimes used to spend a week with us in the creek.

“Sometime, if he doesn’t feel like coming to the creek, he sends money into my boss accounts. We would then go and drop the gun at an agreed venue in Bayelsa State. After amnesty, we surrendered our guns. It was just recently that Evans started calling me. He asked me to assist him with weapons. He said he would N3million for the weapons.”

Yesterday, detectives attached to the Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT), recovered a stash of foreign currency in his house at Magodo estate mansion.

Evans on Tuesday led policemen to his home, where the money was retrieved. The money, whose total was not revealed, was carefully concealed in numerous white envelopes. The foreign currencies are in British pounds and American dollars.

Each of the envelopes was kept in white dishes, which the IRT operatives brought along with them to the Lagos State Police Command headquarters.

The discovery came two days after Evans confessed that he doesn’t keep dollars, which he got from kidnapping for ransom.

On Tuesday was the second time Evans took operatives for a search.

Although Evans was shielded from talking to journalists by policemen, police sources said that the raid in Evans home yesterday, followed his confessional statements.

He had repeatedly said: “I don’t have a domiciliary account. I have only one account and its naira account. I don’t know how much is the account, but I call that account, account for change.”

Some traders at Auto Spare Parts and Machinery Dealers Association (ASPAMDA) and Alaba International Market have urged IRT operatives to beam their searchlight at the two markets, insisting that some traders are informants to Evans.

According to them, if there were not informants in the markets working with Evans, there was no way the suspect would have been able to know the financial strength of traders, who later became his victims.

The traders argued that informants were likely business partners and kinsmen to prospective victims. They noted that these close family members and associates are those likely to know the worth of traders.

One of the traders, who didn’t wish to be mentioned, said: “Most of these persons used as informants may never get to meet Evans. But they would freely give him information through phone on traders’ business empires.

It would be recalled that two of Evans’ victims, Ojukwu Cosmas and Uche Okoroafor, parted with $1m each highly. The two men are successful businessmen in ASPAMDA and Alaba International Market.

A trader, identified simply as Chigboo said that many traders, who hustle for customers on behalf of rich traders, may be informants to armed robbers and kidnappers.

Chigboo said: “I have been in this market for a while and thousands of traders here are informants. They spy on their masters and later sell them out to robbers and kidnappers. Sometimes, these informants may be business partners and relatives.”

Asked if Evans could possibly have operated in the market to spy on his prospective victims, the trader said: “The case of asking $1m ransom and getting it paid is a high profile operation. You must not rule out the fact that he used informants here to know all he wanted to know. Remember, some of his captives were abducted as they left their shops heading home. Police have to do a comprehensive work of combing these markets in order to fish out informants.”

Another trader who craved anonymity, said: “There is nothing that does not happen here. The market is so large and swallows up everything; how many cases can one report? When you see these criminal elements in the market, you would know them by their moves.

“You find such characters at beer parlour after business hours. They’ll claim they came to buy auto parts, but wanted to know relax in the beer parlour. They will capture the attention of inexperienced and gullible traders who will start singing like canary, telling about their bosses businesses and successes. So when these high profile robberies and abductions like this take place, police shouldn’t rule out use of informants.”