According to the Lebanese woman, who identified herself as Amira Abudallahi,
“my financial responsibility and the economic situation of the country led me
into armed robbery”. “I have five kids
but I am divorced. I just had a
baby. The baby is six months old now.
Since I started working with the gang, I have made over N12 million. I used
part of it to buy a car and the other to pay my children’s school fees,” she said after being paraded by the Lagos
State Police Command.
“I am not proud of myself neither am I proud of what has
happened. I just hope I can make a positive change on the society. I pray God will give me the opportunity to do
so in future. I believe no one is above mistake and I believe God will grant
me the grace.
“ What I did was wrong, but
nobody is above mistake. It was my financial responsibility and the
economic situation of the country that led me into the gang. I live in Lekki.
What I do for the gang is that I talk with prospective victims on the phone.
Senator gives me the number, tells me what to say and then I call the victim. I
have not built any house; I still live in a rented two-bedroom apartment in
Lekki”.
Amira was alleged to
be a member of a six-man armed robbery
gang which specialised in impersonating
operatives of EFCC to rob bureau de change operators in Abuja and Lagos.
Other suspects are
Princewill Eze, aka Senator Nwobodo, 55; Daniel Okpara, 30; Paul Irior,
37; Bassey Williams Ekpenyong, 39; and Royal Nwabuike, 32. They were arrested
in Lagos, Ogun, and Abuja respectively.
Lagos State
Commissioner of Police, Kayode
Aderanti, while parading the suspects, said that, on February 25, at about 5pm, he received information about a
gang of armed robbers using the EFCC uniform
and handcuffs to rob bureau de
change operators in Abuja and Lagos of
dollars, pounds sterling and
Euro.
Aderanti subsequently asked the state Anti-Robbery Squad
(SARS) commander, Abba Kyari, to launch
a manhunt. The manhunt paid off as detectives tracked and arrested the suspected
gang leader, Senator Nwobodo, in Ajah on February 27, at about 4pm. His alleged confession led to the arrest of Amira
and other members of the gang.
Sunday Vanguard learnt that
detectives also recovered one
Bryco59 pistol with serial no 930945 with six rounds of 5.56mm live ammunition,
single barrel pistol cut to size with four live cartridges, a Toyota Highlander jeep ash colour with
registration number, No LSR 110 DB,
a Toyota Highlander jeep maroon colour with
registration number No LSR 671 DK, a
Toyota Sienna 2012 model, with
registration number JJ424CQ, a Toyota
Four runner with registration number KRD 449 DG, one Toyota Carmy saloon
car unregistered, four million naira
cash and 13,000 US dollars cash.
The suspects were
said to have a complete set of
communication system of the police
inside a vehicle which allowed them
to intercept police
communications. They also reportedly had
police escort vehicles, police walkie talkie, EFCC vest used impersonate
the anti-graft agencies officials.
Confessing to the crime, Eze
said, “I didn’t recruit anyone of them into the gang; they all joined
the gang on their own freewill because they are all adults. I am from Ikanu
lGA, Enugu state. I am married with five children. I was into hospitality
business before I ventured into robbery.
The senator name is an appellation. I did not hold a political position.
I live in a rented apartment at VGC. I did not own the house. Some of my
daughters are in school abroad.
“We have made about N15m. I have used the money to buy
different property, but the police have seized them all. I bought different
vehicles”.
Another member of the gang, a dismissed police officer, Paul
Irior, said: “We were not using guns. I was serving with CMS Mopol 2, Lagos.
I built a house in Benin. I met the senator in 2014. My role was to act as
policeman. I would wear uniform and pose with the fake EFCC officials. Any time
they had a deal, they invited me. Sometimes, I got a million per operation.
“They would bring the money to us in convenient places like
hotels and banks. I also run a hotel. It is about five years now that we
started the deals. I was arrested by the police four years ago for a similar
issue, but secured bail by the court.
Lagos State Police Command spokesman, Ken Nwosu, said
efforts were on to arrest the only gang member still at large.
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