‘The Urge To Give My Father A Befitting Burial Made Me Venture Into Robbery’ – Suspect

An armed robbery suspect, Chigozie Anene has said that he went into robbery because he needed funds for his father’s burial and his fairly used clothes business.

The 29-year-old stated that he and his gang bought expensive goods from armed robbers and sell them at give-away prices. He also revealed that he would steal expensive cars and tricycles and resell them.

The suspect reportedly had a stand-by mechanic who changed parts of the tricycle he stole so he could sell it off to unsuspecting individuals, The Nation reports.

Anene went into hiding after his gang was arrested by the Inspector General of Police’s Intelligence Response Team (IRT).

In a bid to catch him, one of the IRT operatives posed as a buyer trying to get a tricycle. Anene fell for the trap and got arrested when he surfaced.

During preliminary investigation, the suspect who is a father of two opened up on the reason he went into robbery.

He said: “I live in a one-room apartment at No. 4 Mosalasi Street, Igando, Lagos.

“I used to operate as one-man gang, singlehandedly stealing tricycles in my neighbourhood.

“My problem started when one Tunbu and one Prince became my friends and lured me into forming a three-man robbery gang to make bigger money.

“They convinced me that there is less risk in snatching cars than tricycles and that stolen cars have more standby buyers.

“The urge to give my father a befitting burial contributed most to my forming a robbery gang as well as getting enough money to boost my second-hand clothes business and live big like some of my mates.

“When I decided to stop armed robbery, my members nearly assassinated me because they felt that they were no longer safe and they would not be able to rest after any robbery operation, because I could become a police informant.”