‘Biggest catch of the year…’

Police smash international armed robbery gang in Lagos

POLICE operatives in Lagos have cracked an international armed robbery organisation that has robbed Bureau de Change operators of millions of dollars.

The gang, said to be well-organised, is led by the son of a billionaire transporter in Enugu and a Lebanese woman.   The suspects, who gave up to the crime and confessed freely before newsmen, were paraded yesterday at the Command Headquarters, GRA, Ikeja by the Lagos State police boss, Cornelius Aderanti.

Aderanti, who described the arrest as “the biggest catch of the year,” said he would do all within his capacity to ensure that the suspects do not escape the full wrath of the law. The suspects were said to have compromised the judiciary several times they were arrested in the past.

According to the kingpin, Mr. Princewill Eze, who paraded himself as ‘Senator Nwobodo’: “I have been charged to court many times but we have a way of escaping justice. We are a well-organized cartel.

We take advantage of the bureau de change operators because some of them who don’t have licence want to bring the money directly to us when we call them.

We would lodge in a 5-star hotel and ask our member, a Lebanese, to call them.” “When they come with the dollars, we rob them, put them in our vehicle and drive away. We have policemen as our members.

I deceive the moneychangers with my intimidating police escorts and convoy.”

“I am not a poor man, I am the son of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ijeoma Transport. But I think I want to have more. That is why I found myself in this mess. I have hotels, I live in Victoria Garden City (VGC), Lekki.

I own houses and I have tenants. I am well- known in my community. I sponsor people for political offices. It is unfortunate that I find myself in this shit.”

In two operations in Abuja and Lagos alone, the suspects made a whooping $800,000. “I purchased a police base station and installed it in my car.

I intercept every conversation of the police on my Walkie Talkie,” the kingpin further confessed.   One of their reliable hands, a Lebanese woman identified as Almira Abdallahi, 32, told newsmen that she left her thriving interior decoration business in Abuja to join the cartel.

“ I am a mother of five children, I am divorced so I had to quit my interior decoration since I was making over 5,000 USD from any operation we embarked on.”

“I use the money to take care of my five children and live in a good accommodation in Abuja. I also made sure my children attend good schools and I drive a good Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) car.”

“ I know I have made mistakes but I don’t regret it because I joined them with my mind. It was very easy to blend with the organisation because my mother is from Edo State. I grew up in Cyprus, Lagos and Abuja respectively,” she revealed.

Aderanti noted that the cartel was smashed by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad led by Abba Kyari, a Superintendent of Police, thereby giving kudos to the officer and his team members for their sincerity at ensuring that the suspects were truly arrested.

The police noted that a Bryco 59 model pistol, six rounds of live ammunition, single barrel cartridges, three Toyota Highlander SUVs, one Toyota Forerunner, Toyota Sienna, and a Toyota Camry were recovered from the gang.

Other items recovered include N4million, 13,000USD among others. He added that one of the policemen, Corporal Paul Irior, who is a member of the gang, has been dismissed.