03082019 - Worsening Insecurity: Suspected herdsmen kill Catholic priest in Enugu

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24—SATURDAY Vanguard, AUGUST3, 2019 Betrayal! Employee masterminds robbery attack on boss, molests wife ·I posed as a visiting S/A musician- gang leader By Evelyn Usman He bowed his head in shame, unable to look into this reporter’s eyes when approached. By the time he managed to lift up his head after much persuasion, it revealed a tear- filled eyes. He quickly dabbed the tears rolling down his cheeks with his index fingers and in an emotional laden tone, he said, “ I wish to have a one-on-one session with my boss, at least, to apologize to him because he does not deserve this betrayal”. McDonald Simeon, is a graduate of Computer Engineering from the University of Lagos, UNILAG . After graduation in 2017, he took some online courses on Computer Soft Ware development , hacking and E- commerce. After much toiling for a job, he got a manageable one with one Mr Michael, who owns a studio in Lekki phase 1, Lagos, in 2017. All was going smoothly between him and his employer, until April 4, 2019, when the employee introduced some visitors to his boss as musicians from South Africa who turned out to be robbers! Crime Guard gathered that the employer, his wife and eight-year-old daughter were brutalized by the robbers, who visited the studio to shoot a music video. They compelled him to transfer over N300,000, at gun point. Thereafter, they made away with valuables which included some hard drives, a camera worth N800,000, laptops, jewelries among others. As if that was not enough, the hoodlums were said to have striped the woman and taunted her while the operation lasted. I did it to raise money—Simeon On why he masterminded the robbery, Simeon, bowed his head again and said, “I did it because I had plenty issues confronting me. Last year, I raised some money to travel out of the country but I was duped. I had to move out of my place and rented an apartment at a ghetto settlement in Jakande, Ajah, where I met Akeem Musa, one of my neighbors. Knowing he was a street boy, I approached him and told him about my boss. He said I shoud call him (his boss) and tell him that I was bringing some South African musicians to come and shoot a music video in his studio. After fixing the appointment with my boss, we went to his house on April 4, 2019. While others stayed outside, I called my boss on the phone to instruct the gate man to open the gate of the house. I then ushered the gang of nine in. At that point, I could not look into the face of my boss because I felt I had betrayed him. I also could not turn back the hand of the clock. I just watched as they went about the operation. After the operation, we drove to Awoyaya, lodged in a hotel where we spent four hours to share the loot . “Unfortunately, I did not get as much as I had anticipated. I got only N40,000 from the entire deal. During the operation, my boss was forced to transfer N350,000 into Godwin’s account. But he (Godwin) came back with only N100,000 saying that was what he found in his account. I got N9,000 from N100,000 that was shared among nine of us. I was given an apple laptop, as my loot for giving them the information which I sold for N80,000. I got extra N30,000 •Other suspects (From right: Musa Akeem, Ikechukwu Collins, Uche okafor and Uche John from the sale of other equipment we made away with” I acted as body guard —Ikechukwu On his part, Ikechukwu Collins, 21, from Imo State, said the part he played in the robbery operation was to act as a body guard to the supposed South African musician, Musa Akeem. He further stated that he stood by the door of their victim’s wife, while one of their fleeing gang members whose identity he gave as Terry ‘G’ stayed with the woman inside the room. He said, “This is my first time of joining the gang. I had approached Terry ‘G’ that I needed money and he asked me to accompany him for a job. He gave me a gun and was also holding another gun. At the end of the deal, I got only N45,000". How we prepared for the operation —Musa For 24-year-old Musa Akeem, who led the gang and also posed as the visiting South African musician, he said, “in order to make it look real, I had to work on this dread hair ( pointing to his head). The night before we went for the operation, nine of us met at club 9, Alpha Beach, between 11pm and 12 midnight to finalise the plan. Thereafter, we moved to Uche’s place at Bale street, around Alpha beach, from where we woke up next day and headed straight for Lekki phase 1, in two cars. “ The guns we used for the operation were kept inside a bag. Before we alighted, we shared the guns among three of us; myself, Terry ‘G’ and Godwin otherwise known as ‘IG’. When we got inside, we saw the man . He greeted us and said he would show us round his studio so as to know the beat we would need . As he stood up, we pointed a gun at him and told him to kneel down. IG tied him and ordered him to transfer money into an account . “But when we got to the hotel he, (IG) went to withdraw the money but said it was N100,000 the man transferred . Everybody started complaining because MC Donald told us we would get up to N12 million there. We suspect he kept the rest to himself. We had to sell other things we stole at the studio and I got N43,000 as my share”. My regrets At a point, the Kwara state-born father of one, expressed regrets over his action. He said he was particularly moved by his seven year-old daughter’s tears when she came visiting , accompanied by his wife. He said, “ My wife didn’t know I was a robber. I used to play football but it did n favour me. I went into sale of steel, yet it did not favour me. Denial Benjamin Okafor , 33 and Uche John, 25, however claimed they did not participate in the robbery operation. While Okafor, an Uber driver, said he was hired to take the gang to its destination, John said his offence was that he organized the vehicles the gang use for the operation, insisting that they did not know th mission of the gang. Okafor said , “ I am a taxi driver. Uche called me t come and pick a musician to a studio . When I brought the car in the morning, I noticed they were not musicia but I was scared to leave, in order not to be killed. I waited in the car while they went into the house and came out with some equiptment. Thereafter, I took them to the hotel and I was paid N5,000 at the end”. Arrest The suspects , were arrested by operatives of the Special Anti robbery Squad, SARS while investigating separate robbery gang involving Musa Akeem. H was arrested for allegedly snatching a vehicle from its owner around Ajah axis , three weeks ago. But during investigation, he opened up on other crimes he had bee involved in, which included the operation at the studio where he posed as a South African musician. We drug taxi drivers, steal their cabs—suspec By Ifeanyi Okolie Two suspects, who specialized in drugging taxi drivers operating at the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, before stealing their vehicles, have been arrested by operatives of the Inspector General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team, IRT. Vanguard gathered that the suspects who were identified as Sanusi Balla and Nurudeen Ibrahim, ran into trouble recently when they drugged and killed a serving soldier with the Nigeria Army, Sergeant Richard Akaeze, and made away with his Peugeot 406 saloon car. Police sources told Vanguard that the suspects who normally tricked their victims to drinking joints around the FCT, where they would drug their drinks or food before stealing their victims’ vehicles, gave Sergeant Akaeze an overdose of the drug that killed him. The suspects were said to have buried his corpse hurriedly in a yet to be disclosed site and took away his mobile phones and his car which he was using for taxi.A source explained that the Inspector General of Police, Adamu Mohammed was alerted about Akaeze’s disappearance by his colleagues in the army, few days after he failed to return home from his business and operatives of the IRT, headed by Abba Kyari, were directed to investigate and unravel the circumstances surrounding his disappearance. It was gathered that when the operatives commenced investigations, Akaeze’s stolen mobile phone was tracked and the operatives discovered that the phone was being used by one of the suspects, Balla, who owned a car stand in Kaura Local Government Area of Zamfara State and was equally a staff of •Suspect Macdonald the Local Government. Balla was said to have confessed after his arrest that his friend, Ibrahim, who was based in Abuja gave him the mobile phone when h brought a Peugeot 406 for him to buy but that he said he didn’t buy the vehicle because he had no money at that time. Balla explained further that aside his car selling business and his job as a clerk at the local government, he had joined Ibrahim in several operations at the FCT where they drugged their victim before stealing their vehicles. He however denied taking part in the operation where Ibrahim drugged and killed the late soldier, before stealing his vehicle and his mobile phone that was found on him. Police sources added that Balla assisted the police in arrestin Ibrahim in Abuja, but he denied meeting, drugging or killing Sergeant Akaeze, when he was interrogated, while admitting that he was in the business of drugging and stealing from unsuspecting taxi drivers operating in the FCT and his targets were mainly greedy taxi drivers who had uncontrollable appetite for free drinks Our modus operandi—Balla When the suspects were interviewed, 37-year-old
ot d e ns a e n e s . ts I joined robber obbery y gang at 19—suspect •Reveals how gang snatched vehicle from Uber operator, gave it out for Uber By Evelyn Usman rom his lanky body shape to his calm Flooks coupled with a soft spoken voice that would command any listening ear, nothing, would give 21-year-old Bolanle Olamide , out as a member of a notorious robbery gang that has been terrorizing Ajah and its environs for years. But he was arrested alongside a suspected member of his gang, Musa Akeem , by operatives of the Special Anti Robbery Squad, SARS , with the recovery of a 2017 model Toyota Corrolla ,with plate number AKD 385 FR which was snatched at gun point from its owner, around Abijo estate , Lekki-Ajah, three weeks ago. In this interview with Crime Guard, Olamide, revealed that he joined the gang at the age of 19, while his mates elsewhere had either graduated from the university or were at the verge of rounding up. He gave a blow-by-blow account of how he started and progressed to where he is today and the gang’s modus oparandi. Do you always alight from your car when hit from behind, or stop to challenge any motorist who attempts to hit you? Then , the confession of this suspect should be a warning to you as you could be risking your life with robbers who are either on their way for an operation , or looking for your type of car to rob. From bus conductor to ‘one chance’ robbery The Edo State- born suspect who is the fifth child in seven children, said he dropped out from primary school , owing to the death of his father, at the age of 10. Thereafter, he said, he began to work with one Godwin , a member of the gang , as a bus conductor, while he( Godwin) was the driver. During that period, he said he made between N2,000 and N3,000, depending on the number of trips made per day. He said he was introduced to a new phase of life after the bus owner withdrew it from Godwin, owing to the ceaseless complaints of arrests by security agents. Hear him: “ After staying at home for some days without food, one of Godwin’s friends gave him a gun He asked him to use it to rob people and Godwin invited me to join him . We started going out for operations in 2017, while I was 19 . We started with keke Marwa and we operated along Ajah expressway. Modus Oparandi “We would board keke marwa, one of us would sit with the driver in front while the other would sit behind with two other genuine passengers. On getting close to our destination, Godwin would point the gun at the operator and order him to stop. We would collect his phone and the money he realized for that day. We would also collect from the passengers before alighting . At the end of each operation, I got between N6,000 and N10,0000. As for the stolen phones, we sold some and kept some for personal use. He said that they did that for a while and decided to progress into another method of robbery .This time around, their target were Uber operators. Attack on Uber drivers According to him, “ Godwin said we should start collecting vehicles from motorists so as to have more money. Our targets were Uber drivers. The first day, we collected a Toyota Corrolla. We intended to sell it but we did not get any buyer. We had to abandon it at the middle of the road. We operated along Ajah and Eleko . We would pose as passengers and order for Uber. Mid way into the journey , we would point a gun at the Sanusi Balla, who is married with eight children, said; “I am a civil servant and I work at the Finance Department of my Local Government as a clerk in that department. I have a friend Nurudeen Ibrahim who called me that he had a car to sell, a Golf 3 saloon car which I bought for N220,000. Three months later he called again and asked me to buy a Honda Civic car, for N230,000. Five months after that, he called again and sold a Peugeot 206 to me. But last year he called me to join him in stealing cars since I was just enjoying the sales. I joined him and when we got to Abuja, we bought a drug known as Tributan. We would then pick a cab and engaged the cab operator in a conversation. We would make him our friend and offer to give him a drink in a bar. While drinking in the bar, we would ask him to get us something we left behind in his car and before he came back we would have put drug in his drink or food and as he slept off, we would take him in his car and dump him on the outskirts of the town and we would make away with his vehicle. My first operation”The first operation we did together was to steal a Peugeot 406 wagon. We picked the cab from Nyanyan and took the driver to a popular Garden in Gariki area of Abuja, where we got him •Uber Victims ( Bolanle Olamide (r) and Musa Akeem driver and order him to get out of the car after collecting his phones and cash. Since we started, we had collected nothing less than eight cars from Uber drivers. But we only sold three for N300,000 each. We sold the vehicles at Alaba and Okokomaiko areas of Lagos. We abandoned the rest when we did not get buyers. We shared the money equally but the owner of the gun usually got N10,000 extra”. Arrested Like everything that has an end, Olamide, met his waterloo , as he was arrested the first time his gang snatched a private car from its owner around Abijo estate, Lekki- Ajah axis. On that day, the gang of three went out as usual and ordered for an Uber. Like in other cases, they pointed a gun at the driver of the Toyota Camry car and ordered him to drive them to a convenient place, where they planned to push him out and zoom off with the car. He said , “But as we were driving, we discovered that the Camry car had a fault. Just then, we saw another Toyota Corolla in front of us. Godwin ordered us to hit the car from behind . When the person stopped to check the damage, we pointed our gun at him, collected his two iphones and car keys and zoomed off in his car”. Stolen car given out as Uber At this point, his partner in crime, Musa Akeem , 24, continued from where Olamide stopped. He said that the snatched Toyota Corolla car was parked at his place with an instruction for him to look for a buyer. He said that a man who initially showed interest in it, backed out when he could not provide the original documents of the car. He said, “ I met one Sunny at a smoking joint who said I should give it to one Segun who was looking for a car to operate as Uber. I declined at first but when I did not get any buyer, I gave it out to Segun to operate as Uber , with a weekly remittance of N25,000. He also made part payment of N100,000”. The operator had only paid for two weeks when the suspects were arrested via the Iphones stolen from the owner of the Totoya Corolla. As at the time the vehicle was recovered , it still retained the original plate number . Recovered from the suspects, were a face mask, spinner, an axe and a knife. Crime Guard gathered that they would be charged to court at the end of investigation. drugged and made away with his vehicle. I sold the car for N320,000 gave my friend N160,000. The second operation was at Duse Alhaji, where we picked a Golf 2 saloon cab. After we have negotiated with the driver, we took him to a bar, where we bought him drinks and drugged his pepper soup. We left him sedated in the bar and made away with his car which I sold for N160,000 and I gave N80,000 to Ibrahim”. How I got into trouble Three weeks later, Ibrahim did an operation alone but he didn’t carry me along when he stole a Peugeot 406 Saloon Car and brought it to me in Zamfara and he asked me to buy but I told him that I wasn’t interested and he took the vehicle away and sold it to someone else in Zamfara State. But before he left with the car to Zamfara, I searched the car and found a small phone in it and I told him that I needed the phone. When he gave me the phone, I took it to Kano and gave it to one of my friends known as Lawan. Two weeks later, Lawan called and told me that he was in Zamfara to see me. I didn’t know that he came with the police and I was arrested. SATURDAY Vanguard, AUGUST 3, 2019—25 SARS foils suspect’s attempt to sell stolen car from Edo in Lagos I joined robbery to establish a barbing salon — suspect By Evelyn Usman Asuspected member of a nine-man robbery gang that specialized in stealing vehicles from Edo State and bringing same to Lagos to sell at give away prices to ready buyers, have been arrested by operatives of the Special Anti Robbery Squad, SARS, Lagos State Police Command. The suspect, Richard Eboiyehi, 22, was arrested in Ajah, while trying to sell a Lexus jeep that was stolen two weeks ago, from a building at Benin By-Pass, Edo State. Eboiyehi, a Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination holder, revealed that he and eight other members of his gang invaded the building and carted away the family’s valuables, including a Lexus Jeep. He said , “ We did not go with a gun. We were only armed with cutlasses. We scaled through the fence. One of us who knew the family brought the deal. He said owner of the house swindled his friend and that he wanted to pay him back. After the operation, Nathaniel and Timothy took the car to Onitsha to sell but nobody bought it as they kept requesting for the original documents. We only collected photo copy of the vehicle’s documents and forgot its original because we were in a hurry to leave the house that day. “Determined to sell the car and share the money, Timothy and I brought it to Lagos to sell last week Monday. He told me the next day that he was taking the car to the market. When I called again, he told me he was at Mega chicken , that he was still looking for buyer. The next time my phone rang, the caller said Timothy was involved in an accident and had been rushed to the hospital. I rushed to the hospital , somewhere at Ajah, only to be arrested”. Asked why he joined robbery, Eboiyehi,said, “ One Ahmed, whom I met at Naija Bet shop at Ipoba hill, introduced me to the gang. I joined because I needed money to set up a barbing salon. I am an artist. But since last year, there had been no job. When I complained to Ahmed, he asked me to join him and other gang members to the operation that led to my arrested. “ I was informed that the jeep would be sold for N1.5 million at the initial stage and by the time I calculated my share, I was hoping to get at least 150,000. That would have been enough for me to set up a barbing saloon. Unfortunately, I am the only one that was arrested while Timothy who brought me to Lagos , escaped. I have contacted relatives in Benin but none of them believed me. They thought I was trying to collect money from them because I used to lie with such matter in the past. I regret my action”, he said. Police sources hinted that SARS operatives • Richard Eboiyehi my
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03082019 - Worsening Insecurity: Suspected herdsmen kill Catholic priest in Enugu

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