Police parade ‘one-chance’ kingpin, others in Abuja

The FCT Police Command yesterday paraded a suspected kingpin of three one-chance robbery gangs in Abuja along with members of his syndicate. Daily Trust reports that one-chance robbery has been on the increase in the capital city, with the mode of operation involving victims being robbed while being conveyed in a vehicle believed to be […]

The FCT Police Command yesterday paraded a suspected kingpin of three one-chance robbery gangs in Abuja along with members of his syndicate.
Daily Trust reports that one-chance robbery has been on the increase in the capital city, with the mode of operation involving victims being robbed while being conveyed in a vehicle believed to be a commercial vehicle.
Parading the suspects, the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Criminal Intelligence & Investigation Department (CIID), DCP Salisu H. Gyadi-Gyadi, said the arrest followed the creation of an Anti One-Chance Squad which is headed by a Chief Superintendent of Police. He said the new squad smashed the three gangs and recovered their operational vehicles on September 6 and 7 at Akaraka Gosa and Nyanya axis.
He gave the names of the suspects as Julius Uche, 38 (kingpin); Michael Okafor, 27; Ogbonna Nwovu, 28; Ike Ugwuke, 36; Christian Nwite, 28; Lucky Nwakona, 22 and Joy Hagba 34 years old.
“The exhibits recovered from them include, one ash coloured Ford car No. EL461LSD, one blue Golf No. KUJ367TV, one Nissan Almera and some well-trimmed papers,” Gyadi-Gyadi said.
He said aside the seven one-chance suspects, the command also arrested 15 other suspected criminals for various offences, adding that as soon as investigations were concluded, all they would be arraigned before the court of law.
The female suspect, Joy Hagba, told journalists that she was conscripted into the gang when she went to see her boyfriend, adding that she would be carried along so as to make would-be victims believe that the vehicle was a genuine commercial vehicle.
Also speaking with journalists, the suspected kingpin of the syndicate, Julius Uche, however said his work was not that of ‘one-chance’ robbery but what he called ‘open and close’ business and pickpocket.
Asked to explain what the ‘open and close’ business means, he said while one-chance robbers make used of guns to dispossess their victims, his own ‘business’ did not involve guns. “When we carry people, there are some papers used to wash money, we bring it to dupe them,” he said. However, police said he kingpin has a Ford vehicle which they used in their operation. “Oftentimes, they operate four in a vehicle, with a lady just to create an impression that it’s a genuine commercial vehicle. “He (Uche) is the kingpin, because he also has other deployments. He is not just an operator, but he has boys under him that he deploys for such operations and they report to him,” the command’s spokesman, DSP Anjuguri Manzah clarified.