Men of the Inspector General of Police’s Intelligence Response Team (IRT) have smashed a four-man highway robbery gang who dressed in police uniform and mounted roadblocks to rob and snatch vehicles in Lagos and neighbouring states.
A member of the gang, Nmaduabuchi Ekwe, 30, was arrested while three others are still at large.
Ekwe, according to police sources gave the names of his fleeing gang members as Emma, Sunday and Chinedu.
The gang was said to have attacked one Segun and his family members who were returning from a trip and made away with his car, phones, wristwatches, money and other valuables.
According to a police source, the victim said: ‘’I was with my wife and two of her siblings in my car, while returning from a visit to my in-laws in Ife, Osun State, when I encountered the hoodlums at a roadblock they mounted and dressed in police uniform.
‘’Initially, I thought they were police officers because all of them were wearing police uniform. It was when they ordered me to park well and step out of my car that I knew that something was amiss including the way they pointed his AK47 at me. They were soaked in Indian hemp and their eyes were as red as crimpson; their voices so cracked that all of them were barking like mad dogs. One of them stripped me naked, while another member of the gang took over my car’s steering and ordered me to jump into my car and he drove off.
People who knew me could not recognize me because they stripped me naked and I could not be able to call for help.
‘’They collected my phone and my wife’s phone, my two in-laws’ phones, wristwatches , necklace, bangles, N350,000 cash and other valuables and ordered all of us out of my Toyota Camry votron car and they took the car away abandoning us to fate.
‘’However nemesis caught up with them when they sold one of the phones, Itel phone, to a student for N17,000 while the market price is N45,000. The student was later tracked and he led the IRT’s operatives to Ekwe who sold the phone to him. The suspect confessed that the student did not know that the phone he bought was stolen.
The source further revealed that the gang had also been using trucks to block roads in order to snatch vehicles, while they also use motorbikes to trail their victims before robbing them on the highway.
Confessing, Ekwe said: ‘’It is true that we are highway armed robbers and we were four that robbed the man, his wife and two other occupants of the car. The names of the three members of our gang now at large are Emma, Sunday and Chinedu.
‘’We did not strip the victim naked. What really happened was that, we pulled off the man’s shirt and used it to tie his leg and hands to demobilise him because he was aggressive and wanted to fight us. We don’t use gun. We don’t use dangerous weapons. We collected their phones, money, wrist watches and trinkets. I have not built any house that I would call my own despite the huge money I was making from robbery.
‘’My wife is living in a rented one room apartment in Asaba, Delta state. We have not got children, but we believe that God would give us children whenever He pleases. I love my wife too much. She did not know that I belong to a four- man armed robbery gang until this particular arrest. This is our three years of peaceful marriage. I used to pay N3,000 per month for the one room apartment in Asaba. She is a hair dresser.
She is my legal wife. I paid her bride price, N10, 000 but other marriage rites expenses gulped over N100,000. I had a Golf car at Enugu but I sold it off when I became broke last year. Even the person who bought it from me is still with my N120, 000 balance.
‘’Each member of the gang has specific role to play in every robbery operation we want to carry out in Lagos or neighbouring states.
Only those whose role is to mount road block wear police uniform.
Ekwe said his gang members stole the police uniform they wore during operation.
He said:’’ There was a time people were hawking police boots, whistles, shoes, trousers, shirts and vest. So it was easy then to get but not now. We stole the police uniform we are using now. My role is to search and ransack victims and collect their money, phones and any moveable valuables we can lay our hands on in victims’ vehicles.’’
