A 42-year old man, Alhaji Kabiru Akorede, suspected to be a car snatcher had been arrested by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in his residence at NEPA Quarters, Isashi, Lagos State while he was re-fixing the fittings of a stolen vehicle.
The suspect from Kwara state had disclosed during a police interrogation that he had lost count of the number of stolen vehicles he had sold.
A report by Punch on Tuesday,November 18, 2014, said Akorede allegedly belonged to an eight-man robbery gang, who had gone to the Victoria Island area on September 12, 2014 and robbed one Mr. Albert Omisore of his Toyota Prado marked, AAA 690 BH.
It was gathered that one of the members of the eight-man gang, Moses Ogbu, receives the stolen vehicles from the thieves and hands them over to Akorede for him to sell.
Akorede allegedly re-fixed the fittings of the vehicle such as the headlights and windscreens in order to sell them quick enough, according to police sources.
Meanwhile, after the gang were arrested by the police operatives, Akorede was traced and arrested by the operatives who subsequently recovered the stolen vehicle from him.
Police sources disclosed that prior to his arrest, the suspect had been arrested earlier in the year and was still standing trial before an Ikeja Magistrate’s Court when he went back into crime.
Confessing to the crime, the father of two who claimed to have gone on a pilgrimage to Mecca in 2010 said, “I was working as a building engineer until 2013. I started receiving stolen cars last year. It was a friend, one Dada, who introduced me to the gang. Since I started with them, I used to sell the stolen vehicles along the Ile Zik area in Lagos.
“I cannot recall the number of the vehicles I collected, but they may not be less than 20. There were about three Toyota Highlander which I sold for N1.2m each. I also got four Toyota Camry, which I sold for N600,000 each.”
“I decided to work on the vehicle so that I could conveniently resell it. It is true that I changed the fittings. I gave Moses N250,000 for the vehicle. I did this because I desperately needed money,” he added.
Confirming the arrest, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, said, “Yes, the suspect was arrested for receiving stolen vehicles. Investigations are ongoing and he would be charged to court soon.”
