Suspected high-profile fraudsters arrested by operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Lagos State Police Command, under the leadership of CSP Sunday Cirman, have narrated how they allegedly targeted big markets in Lagos for their victims.
The suspects also claimed to have taken advantage of the get-rich-quick mentality of some Nigerians to prey on them and dupe them of their hard-earned money and other valuables.
According to the police, members of the gangs reportedly went as far as abducting some business operators and ensuring that ransom was paid before they were released.
The arrested suspects, however, described themselves as “local 419,” a term which means “local fraudsters,” adding that they preyed on gullible Nigerians, especially women and their greed.
The police in Lagos State have also uncovered a list of more than 125 business operators at different markets in the state allegedly pencilled down and targeted by one of the fraud gangs.
The police accused one of the gangs of luring a tyre merchant to the Aiyetoro-Itele area of Ogun State, holding him captive and collecting about N24 million before he was released.
The bubble reportedly burst on the gang’s illicit activities when they lured a cloth seller to the Ayobo area of Lagos and members of the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Lagos State Police Command swooped on them, arresting three members in the process.
The majority of the members of the two syndicates, however, claimed to have joined the criminal enterprise after they themselves fell victim to fraudsters, incidents which they said adversely affected their businesses and sources of livelihood.
A police source said: “The two groups use different tactics, but their mode of operation is that they target prospective investors or traders and end up defrauding them in the process.”
One of the arrested suspects, Patrick Nwankwo, a 61-year-old indigene of Imo State, claimed to have joined the gang after his second-hand clothing business failed.
He said: “I was into second-hand clothes selling at the popular Katangua Market. At a time, the business failed and, around that period, I lost my wife. I used the little money I had left to bury my late wife.”
He continued: “I started as a ‘caller.’ A caller is a person who goes out to identify and speak with our prospective victims. We identify businessmen. After this, we lie to them that someone is in need of a large supply of a particular commodity and ask them to supply it. We usually use bicycle spare parts as the needed commodity.
“Another member of the gang will serve as the receiver. Once they supply those items to him, we disappear from that address.”
He revealed: “Our base is in Ogun State, but we target businessmen at popular markets, including Oshodi, Arena, Idumota, Alaba and Trade Fair Market. We already have our targets and know what they sell.”
On how they were able to convince their victims, the suspect said: “We don’t pray for gullible people to finish. Gullible people cannot finish in Nigeria. They want to get rich very quickly, and we take advantage of that.”
Another suspect, 60-year-old Emeka Obi, said: “I used to be a caller, but now I am old. I only allow them to use my office for their operations, and I get only 10 per cent of whatever they get from their victims.”
He stated: “I was operating a drug store, but I was duped by a gang. When I went back to the same people who duped me, I asked to join them, and I did.
“After serving my boss for six years and having my own shop, somebody told me that they had drugs in large quantities. But when I got to where I was supposed to get the drugs, I saw a large quantity of American dollars. I didn’t know they were fake. I was asked to deposit the N400,000 that was with me. That was a lot of money then, in 1990.
“Initially, after collecting my money, they ran away. But after they came back, I asked to join them, and since then I have made more than the N400,000 that I lost to them.”
Forty-seven-year-old Charles Okeke, another member of the first gang, who was into shoemaking in Aba, Abia State, but hails from Imo State, also claimed to have been duped before joining the trade.
Okeke said: “I joined in 2018 after I was duped while trying to travel abroad. I was taken to Ghana. Mr Eze took me to Ghana and abandoned me there. He promised to take me to Europe or America but abandoned me in Ghana.
“I started looking for something to do. I met some Nigerians. I was doing shoemaking, and the money was nothing to write home about. I met a boy, Chukwudi, and a Ghanaian, Jojome. They invited me to join them, and we duped people under the guise of washing money for them.
“They lured them with gold. We could not make enough money. Later, my mother died and I had to come back to Nigeria for her burial. When I came back and my family saw my situation, they advised me not to return to Ghana. They said I was not doing well and complained that I was not making enough money.
“Because of hardship, my wife left with my two children. It was while I was looking for what to do that I met Emeka through one of our town brothers, who was also into the fraud business but had quit,” the suspect said.
A member of another gang, 53-year-old Emmanuel Ekenta, an indigene of Awka in Anambra State, also claimed to have been duped in Togo, where he had gone to do business.
He narrated: “I was a successful businessman. I was exporting plates to Ghana then, and I was doing well. The problem started when I was duped at the Togo border. Ghanaians and Igbo people duped me. They lied to me that they wanted to wash dollars for me in 2006.”
He confessed: “After I was duped, I requested to join them, and they directed me to their boss in Lagos. He is the one who taught me how to dupe people. His name is Taiye, and I worked with him for six years.
“What we do is that one of us, usually the ‘catcher’, will pose as a sailor and a foreigner who has just arrived in Lagos with goods for sale. We then tell our prospective victim that she would make huge money by selling these non-existent goods.
“After agreeing to sell the goods, the catcher will pretend to take them to the place where the goods are kept but will instead take them to our base, where we introduce them to the dollar-washing business. It is the usual story of telling them that we have dollars but need chemicals to wash them. They will be asked to pay for the chemicals. That is how we collect money from them.
“There is usually the ‘sitter’, who sits at our base. He would corroborate whatever the ‘catcher’ had already told the victims. He would lie to them. He would pretend to be the younger brother of the Customs officer who cleared the goods.”
Forty-six-year-old Uchenna Paul, a former foodstuffs seller, also claimed to have joined the group after he was duped of his master’s money when he was sent from Abia State to Lagos to buy stockfish.
The spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, Abimbola Adebisi, confirmed the arrest of the suspects and reiterated the resolve of the state Commissioner of Police, CP Fatai Tijani, to make the state uninhabitable for criminals.
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