The police also accused the men; Tom Ogbangwor, 25; Christian Chukwu, 28; Sikiru Kareem, 28; Wasiu Bello, 28 and Tayo Akinyemi, 34 of other robberies in the state.
According to the spokesman for the state Police Command, Mr. Samuel Jinadu, Ogbangwor and Chukwu had specialised in robbing people of their handsets. He added that they graduated to snatching cars earlier in the year and had been selling the stolen cars in Lagos in collaboration with Kareem and Bello, who were operating their own robbery gang in the state. He said Akinyemi was the one who usually found buyers for the stolen cars.
"From our investigation, the duo of Ogbangwo and Chukwu snatched a Hyundai Accent saloon car at Ofege Junction in Onitsha, Anambra State. The car was brought to Lagos where the gang contacted another robbery gang headed by Bello. The Lagos gang in turn linked the gang with Akinyemi who tried to sell the car for the gang. Some policemen posed as potential buyers and managed to arrest the gang," Jinadu explained.
Ogbangbor, who said he hailed from Iseleukwu area of Delta State, told PUNCH METRO that he decided to become an armed robber because he was tired of his job as a labourer.
"I met Chukwu where we were both labourers in Anambra. He introduced me to robbery; we were robbing people and collecting their handsets. We would sell the handsets and share the profit mostly N5,000 each. We decided to go for big money and do business with it. That is how we decided to snatch the car.
"Our research showed that we could make up to N700,000 on the Hyundai and the plan was that I would collect N300,000 because Chukwu was my leader. I was desperate to start my business.
"In my village, if you are up to 25 years and you don't have money or business; you are anobody. I wanted to start something and my expected share of N300,000 would have been enough for me to start a business.
Chukwu, who claimed the Hyundai was the first car he snatched, told our correspondent that he started his career by using a gun to snatch phones from people. "It is not everyday that I do it; only when I am hungry. But when I met Ogbangwor, I decided to move to snatching of cars.
"We picked the Hyundai because we saw that the owner looked gentle and not the type that would argue with us. After snatching the car, I called my wife and she and our 10-month-old child followed me to Lagos. Their presence and the fact that I was generous, prevented policemen at all the checkpoints along the expressway from becoming nosy," he said.
The duo of Kareen and Bello said that although they were robbers, they only snatched phones from people.
Bello, who was the leader of the gang, said, "Sikiru brought them to me, saying that he used to know Chukwu's wife who was a former prostitute. I was not interested in the car and the gun Chukwu wanted to sell. They later went to a guy in our area, Jacob, who linked them with Makalele, who in turn linked them with Akinyemi. I head a robbery gang, but I was not involved in the snatching of the Hyundai."
Akinyemi, who said he was deported from Canada last December, insisted that he was never a member of the gang or had been selling any cars for them. He said, "I was told that that car belonged to Chukwu and I contacted my friend Lanre, a fellow deportee, who I believed set me up."
Jinadu said the suspects would be charged to court.
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