A notorious gang of armed robbers who specialize in car snatching at the weekend revealed how two serving soldiers in Enugu State assisted them to move two cars they snatched in the state to Kaduna State. The four man gang in separate interviews told Daily Trust that the two soldiers sat in the front of the cars while they moved them to Kaduna.


“The soldiers sat in the front of each of the cars while we were at the back. The trip was smooth as we were able to pass through check points mounted by security agencies without any stress. Each time we came across a security check, the soldiers will just talk to those there and they will allow us to pass without asking for our particulars. We drove like a convoy of an executive,’’ the gang leader, Basil Okafor said.

He said they engaged the services of the soldiers in order to evade security checks.

“We stole the car in Enugu, but we decided to take it down to Kaduna State because one Alhaji promised to buy it from us at a good price. Yes, we stole the car, but not at gunpoint as the police claimed. The cars we snatched are BWM jeep X5 and Honda Accord 2008 model. My friend called me that someone in Kaduna needs these type of cars and we went into action. The driver of the BMW parked by the roadside at the Airport road in Enugu, discussing with someone, and we rushed him and entered the car. He struggled with us, but we overpowered him. We used his car to double cross the owner of the Honda and overpowered him too. We put both of them in their car booths and zoomed off. We did not use any ammunition in the operation, we only used our strength to overpower them. None of them died or sustained any serious injury as a result of our operation. As soon as we reached Amogugu village, we opened the booth and let them go,” he said.

The 20 year old gang leader, who claimed the operation was his first outing, said it was his friend that pushed him into the act. He however said that they did not negotiate with the two soldiers before they accepted to serve as their escorts.

“We promised to settle them when we reach Alhaji’s place in Kaduna and we did not tell them where we got the cars from,” he said.

On how they got the soldiers, Ndubisi Ogbu, 22, the link person, said one of the soldiers was his customer at his car wash centre.

“I told him that my friend has two cars he wants to take to Kaduna and he accepted to assist us, and invited his colleague. But we did not bargain on what to pay them,’’ he said.

In separate interviews, the soldiers namely Lance Corporal David Ajiji and Private Isiaku Ajadi, said they were not aware that the cars were stolen.

“We were not paid for the job, they lied to us that the cars belong to one Alhaji in Kaduna and that was why we accepted to escort them. It was at the hotel when the police came that we got to know that they were stolen,” Ajiji said.

Ajiji added that he decided to follow them because his mother is seriously sick and needs money for medical bills.

Deputy Commissioner of Police in Kaduna State, Ekechukwu Nwodibo said the suspects were arrested in the hotel while negotiating the sale of the cars.

“Following a tip off, our anti-robbery team swung into action and arrested the suspects and the two soldiers in their full military uniforms in a hotel in Kawo. They are not fake soldiers because they have presented to us their Identity cards and they fully knew the circumstances under which the cars were acquired before accepting to escort them,” he said.