Suspect: I started robbing women after losing N6m in sports’ betting

Juliana Francis

IGP, Mohammed Adamu

One of the three suspected armed robbers arrested for robbing women in order to dispossess them of their vehicles have confessed that he took to the crime after losing N6milllion in sports betting.

The suspect, Ego Ike (30) said that he returned from Turkey with N6million, but was right now financially down.

According to him, he used the whole N6m to sports betting. After that he took to crime and focused on robbing women because they didn’t put up much resistance while they were being robbed. He was arrested along with Obinna Igwe and Adamu Nuhu.

Ike said: “I pressured my father to sell his only land in the village. He sold it and sent me to Istanbul Turkey with the money.  I lived and worked in Istanbul  for three years. I saved  close to N6milion. I started importing clothes into Nigeria. I was supplying several shops around Abuja and Lagos State. In 2016, one of my friends introduced me to sports’ betting. It was there I lost all my money. My resident permits in Istanbul got expired and I had no money to renew it. I became frustrated. I met Linus in Abuja and we became friends. It was Linus that introduced me into armed robbery.”

Police said that the three-man gang specialised in snatching cars from women, who drive expensive cars in Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja. Once they snatch a car, they move it to Niger Republic.

The suspects were all arrested in Abuja and Kaduna State, after they robbed a female staff of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) of her vehicle, while on her way home from work.

After snatching the vehicle, a 2016 Toyota Corolla, they drove it to Kastina State, before it was smuggled into Niger Republic.

Trouble started for them when they were flagged down by Nigerien policemen and arrested.   Earlier, after the robbery, the trio handed the car to Yellow. Thus it was only Yellow that was first arrested.

Meanwhile, the FIRS staff and other women victims of the gang had written petitions to the IG, Mohammed Adamu. The IG directed IRT operatives to go after the gang.  The IRT operatives after much investigation and surveillance finally arrested the three men, while the gang leader, Linus, is still at large.

The suspects, during their confessional statements disclosed that they target women, “because they get easily scared and can’t put up stiff resistance like men.”

They also said that most of the vehicles snatched were majorly Toyota because the products were high in demand.

Ike, a primary school dropout, was formerly a spare parts dealer at Ladipo Market, Lagos. He later moved to Abuja in search of greener pastures. He would later nag his father until the man sold his only piece of land to finance his trip to Turkey.

Recalling his sojourn into crime, Ike said: “Linus introduced me into the robbery gang. The gang had Obinna and Yellow. I joined them in snatching a Toyota Rav4 from a woman driving into her house in Shafar Road, Abuja. We took the car to Kaduna State and gave the car to Nuhu. He offered to pay N200,000.  We also accosted another woman in Buhari area of Abuja; she was driving a Toyota Matrix. She stopped in front of a shop to buy something. We approached and snatched her car. We took the  car to Kaduna and sold it for N270,000. We didn’t know that the owner of the Toyota Matrix works with the Federal Road Safety Corp. The third car we stole was from a woman driving a Toyota Corolla Sport car at Kado Estate in Abuja.

“We used Yellow’s car to block the woman’s car and snatched the car from the woman. We took the car that night to Niger Republic. But at the Kastina border, Linus and I came down from the car. We took a motorcycle into the country, while Yellow and a man, I don’t know, took the car into Niger Republic. The Nigerien police stopped and arrested them.  We target women because we don’t use guns and women are easy catch. Most of them are not security conscious.”

Nuhu (19), another gang member, said that he started stealing cars when he was just 17 years old.

He said: “There is this man known as MD, who I met when I was selling phones in Kaduna State.  MD is one of my customers. He used to buy phones from me. There was a time in 2017, when I was attacked by armed robbers. All my phones were stolen.  I approached MD to assist me because he always had money. He told that since I knew how to drive, he would be giving me cars to deliver for him to different states. He paid me between N30,000 to N40,000.  MD gave a master key, and showed me how to use it.

“The first car I stole with the master key was a Toyota Carina. I took the car to Kaduna and gave it to Mohammed Garuba. He bought it from me for N120,000. After then, MD called and asked me to meet Yellow. He said that I should collect a car from Yellow for him. The car had engine problem. We contacted Garuba and bought it for N180,000. I stole three other Toyota Camry cars from the market at Tuniga Maji area along the Kaduna Abuja expressway. I sold the three Toyota Camry cars  to one Alhaji for N420,000 in Sokoto State. MD also gave me four Toyota Corolla cars to deliver to Abudul, who is a middleman between car thieves in Nigeria and receivers in Niger republic.  Later in September 2018, Yellow introduced me to his own gang, who were operating mainly in Abuja with guns.
“One of them known as Linus, though he is yet to be arrested, told me that he was coming with some of his brothers from Benue State. He those men operate with AK47 rifles. He said that the men want to carry out robbery operation in that state, but didn’t know the terrain. While I was waiting for them, the police showed up and arrested me.”