Naval rating posing as passenger, leads car snatching gang

Owoseni

Detectives attached to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, Lagos State Police Command, have arrested a naval lance corporal, who allegedly heads a car snatching gang.

The lance corporal, Davo Emmanuel, 26, serving at Naval Dock Yard, was said to have been arrested after he allegedly snatched a Toyota Camry car from an Uber driver.

Others arrested along with Emmanuel are Shakiru Adams 24, Moses Saviour 31 and Osas Moses 25. According to the police, the suspects were arrested at different locations within metropolis.

Emmanuel, with Force number S1320, was alleged to have led others, working in a sachet water processing company in Festac, to rob the Uber driver.

According to Emmanuel, he met one of the suspects at a joint, where they used to smoke Indian hemp at Festac.

He said: “We normally meet at a joint where we smoke Indian hemp; I was surprised when Shakiru told me to put on my uniform that I would accompany him somewhere.  I obliged him because we are friends and used to smoke at the same joint. On the fateful day before we set out to snatch the vehicle, we smoked at our usual joint and went straight to Agbara where we snatch the Toyota Camry car.”

Recollecting the day of the operation, Emmanuel said that he and others boarded the car, pretending to be passengers.

He said: “Shakiru sat at the front of the car, chatting with the driver. It was while we were inside the car that I asked Shakiru and others where we were heading to. They said we were going to Agboju. It was on our way that Shakiru threatened the driver with a dummy gun. The driver immediately abandoned his car and ran away. After we collected the car, we reversed and took another direction. I was given N50, 000 as my share from the sales of the car. I was later arrested when I went out to buys something.”

Shakiru said: “I decided to go into crime because the money I was being paid at the water sachet processing company was not enough for me. I have heard that people used to rob Uber drivers successfully. So, on the day of the operation, we went to the joint and smoked. I called Davo, Osas and Saviour that they should accompany me to somewhere. It was at Agboju that we robbed the driver and collected his car.

“When we got to a junction, I threatened the driver with the assistant of Davo, who brought out a dummy gun. We later sold the car for N450, 000. But the person that bought the car from us paid us only N180, 000. I got N40 from it.”

Narrating his own story, Osas said: “I was given N30, 000. I was arrested at my company, where I worked as a driver. It was devil that led me into robbery.”

Saviour, however, stated that it was greed that led him into the robbery.