SARS Busts Car Snatching Syndicate

The operatives at the Federal Special anti-robbery squad, SARS, at Adeniji-Adele  Street, Lagos Island, have made a major breakthrough in the war against car  snatching and other criminal activities, following the arrest of two young men, who  are members of a gang of four that specialise in vehicle snatching in Ifo, Sango,  Ota and Idiroko area of Ogun State.

The arrested suspects identified as Sanni Babalola and Olaiya, according to the  police, are motocycle riders recruited by the car-snatching ring leaders identified  simply as Unana and Jeunbe, who are currently at large, to ferry them to the robbery  scene, watch out while sitting on their bike which must be runing, while they snatch  vehicles from their owners.

Police alleged that if the operation fails, they would quickly jump on the  motorcycles and escape. But if it is otherwise, the motorcyclists would leave the  scene and go to Time Out Hotel situated at Owode Street, Ifo, to collect their share  from the sale of the cars snatched.

Nemesis, however, caught up with the suspects when operatives of SARS swooped on  them at the hotel while they were waiting for their masters to come and give them  their share, following  a tip off from members of the public who have been  monitoring their movement.

When the room they normally lodged in the hotel was search, police recovered five  cut to size pistols, a number of catridges, charms and other fetish objects.

In his confessional statement to the police, Sanni Babalola admitted that they have  been in the business for long.

“We were genuine okada riders at Ifo Motor Park before Unana and Jeunbe recruited us  into the car snatching business.

“We would take them for operations with our motorcycles and would sit atop our bikes  which must be running in case the operation backfires, when our leaders would  quickly jump on top of the bikes and we would escape.

“But if they succeed, they would drive the vehicles away to their buyers while we  would go to Time Out Hotel to wait for them to collect our share.

“They normally pay us between N50,000 and N70,000 depending on the grade of the  vehicles sold.

“We promise to go back to our genuine okada business if we are set free.”

The suspects and some of the hotel workers are currently being detained, while a  police source told P.M.NEWS that there is manhunt for the fleeing ring leaders.

—Paul Iyoghojie

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