Joy Anyim
It is the end of the road for a five-man robbery gang, who specialise in burgling building sites at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The suspects identified as Emeka Emmanuel, Chidi Offor, Kalu Chukwu, Ikechukwu Udeji, Chijioke Igwe and James Jabi, were arrested by operatives of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Special Intelligence Responses Team (IRT).
The gang met their waterloo after robbing a building site at Guzape and Gwarimpa areas of Abuja, stealing wires worth over N10 million. The case of robbery was reported to IRT office, leading to their arrest.
Investigation revealed that one of the gang members known as James, who had gone to one of the sites at Guazape in search of window fixing job, invited members of his gang to the site after he discovered that there were several coils of wires in the site to be used in the construction of the building.
James was said to have contacted Emmanuel, the leader of the gang, informing him about the operation and five other members of the gang were also brought in and they struck at the site around 4:am on that day and carted away the wires in a truck and sold them to their waiting buyers at Jabi Market in Abuja, at a giveaway price of N1.2million.
James was trailed and arrested and during interrogations he confessed organising the heist and he led the operatives in arresting members of his gang including their buyers.
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The 33-year-old Emmanuel, who is also known as Wiper, tells how he became a criminal. He said: “ I install POP and I started in 2016. Before then I was a trader and I was selling spare parts in Zuba market. My landlord wanted to sell the shop and we have no money then he drove us out. I then went to learn how to install POP, then one of my friends known as Osors, who is late now, thought me how to steal from building sites.
“ What we target most is wires because we can hide it in our work bags. I use to carry three coils of wires in my bag and I used to sell them in Jabi, Diei Dieie and Gudu Market. I started this in 2017 and I have done them in over four sites. I used to sell them to Uche, Utekebe and Ubaka. They used to buy the small one for N3000, the medium one for N850,000 and they will buy the big one for N20,000. I have these sites in Guzape Gurampa.
“It was one James, who is a site worker was the person that brought the job that got us into trouble. He told us that he went to the site at Guzape to look for window fixing job and when he got there, he discovered that there were plenty wires in the compound. James then called me because he knew that I am an expert in stealing wires from sites.
“I then invited Chidi and Kalu and the others persons that took part in the operation, but James invited Igwe and we stole all the wire we found in the house. We sold the wire at a giveaway price to Itekebe, our buyer for N1.2million. My share was N300,000 and every other person got the rest of the money. We stole goods during the presidential election. I was arrested this January and I was expecting. ”
Similarly, Chidi Ofor, 34, from Oji River area of Enugu State, said his elder brother thought him how to steal.
He said: “ I am into pop installation and painting but I reside in Gwagwar area of Abuja. It was my elder brother that thought me how to steal from building sites. I met Wiper, who does the same job with me and we started working together. We were also stealing wires from sites because it is easy to carry. I have stolen from three sites, one in Gwarimpa I stole over 20 coils of wires from the site and I used to take them to Deie Die market and I sold them to one Itekebe.
“It was my friend Emeka that took me to do the job at Guzape, and we stole all the cables we found in site and I got the sum of N300,000. We also stole from another house in Guzape and I also got N300,000 as my share and used it to solve my family problems. I paid house rent and I bought cloths and feed with the rest. ”
