A suspect, Emmanuel Godwin,
28, has been arrested by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Zone II, Onikan
for allegedly snatching tricycles from the riders.
He also confessed that he
was stealing the tricycles because he wanted to get rich quick and
solved most of his financial problems. The suspect tricycles snatcher has
begged policemen to ensure that his wife and mother didn’t know that he had
been arrested.
Godwin, a father of two,
said: “Till date, my wife isn’t aware that I’d been arrested. I don’t want her
to know because she’s hypertensive. Even my mother is hypertensive. I also
don’t want her to know. I had earlier been arrested by the Special Anti-Robbery
Squad (SARS), Zone II, Onikan, over the same offence. What made me to
go into tricycles snatching was because I lost two of my tricycles to task
force men from Alausa, Ikeja. I was a barber before I joined a gang that used
to snatch tricycles. If I’m released, I’ll not steal tricycles again!”
A police source said: “The
suspect used to pose as an innocent passenger to steal tricycles. He would hire
a tricycle and tell the rider where he was going. The place would always be a
somewhere convenient for him. Once the rider gets to the venue, Godwin would
push him off and rode off with the tricycle. He usually picks venue
where nobody would hear a rider calling for help. He also looks for
tricycles that are parked along the street or in front of a compound. He also
targets Tricycles Park near restaurants. Once he sees any, he would there to
eat, after that; he would come and ride away with it.”
Preliminary investigation
by SARS showed that Godwin was first arrested by SARS operatives, Zone II on
January 1, 2015 for stealing a tricycle.
Godwin was arrested last
week after he stole another tricycle and the owner decided to lodge a complaint
with SARS. In an operation led by the Officer in charge of SARS, Abba Kyari,
Godwin was trailed to Ijora, where he had sold a stolen tricycle.
He was arrested after he
was asked to come and collect money from a buyer who needed tricycle urgently
and had cash to pay. Godwin was not aware that the supposed buyer was a member
of SARS operatives.
Godwin said: “I’m a
tricycle snatcher, not an armed robber! I don’t use gun. I steal from parks and
when I ask tricycle rider for a test drive and he allows me, I run away with
the tricycle. I used to sell each tricycle I steal at the rate of N60, 000. I
have stolen about five tricycles and sold them to a man known as Aye at Ijora.
I also sold two to one Rilwan. The market price of a tricycle is N400, 000. Aye
still owes me for two tricycles I sold to him while RiLwan owes me one
tricycle.”
According to him, he used
to operate with a gang before, but decided to go solo. He initiated into the
gang by his friend called, a drug addict, called Sodiq Babasunda, now late.
He said: “I didn’t know
that they were tricycle snatchers until they used me five times to go and
deliver to a buyer at Ijora. They used to give me N5, 000 after each delivery.
When I felt that they were cheating me, I decided to go solo. The first
tricycle I sold, I got N60, 000. I gave N25, 000 to my late colleague for
helping me to get buyer.”
The State’s Command
spokesman, Mr. Kenneth Nwosu confirmed the arrest of Godwin.
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