How I bought 30 stolen vehicles - Engineer

Police have nabbed a self-acclaimed building Engineer who claims he is not an armed robber but a receiver of stolen vehicles.

The suspect, Kayode Haruna, who claimed to be a graduate of Yaba College of Technology, was apprehended the operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Lagos State Police Command.

He said to have bought over 50 stolen vehicles from armed robbers at low prices after which would sell them members of the public.

According to the spokesperson for the state police command, Ngozi Braide, the suspect advised the robbers to snatch unregistered vehicles coming into the country at the border.

Because these vehicles were not registered, they were difficult to trace and the suspect would sell them to members of the public, the police spokesperson explained.

According to her, the long arm of the law caught up with the man when a gang of robbers were arrested last year and they confessed that their modus operandi was to snatch vehicles from people bringing in vehicles from Cotonou, Benin Republic, which they would then sell the stolen vehicles to Haruna.

'Based on their confession, police began to search for Haruna. After months of investigation, he was arrested and he will be charged to court for receiving stolen goods.'

The 40-year-old Haruna, who is a native of Kwara State, has admitted to the crime but said that  he had sold only 30 vehicles as against the over 50 the police alleged.

According to him, at the onset he did not know he was dealing with the robbers, but when he later knew that the vehicles were stolen, the devil did not let him stop.

He said, 'I was working at a construction site one day when one of my boys, Sola, gave me the telephone number of Stanley, whom he said was a customs officer that sold vehicles at very cheap prices. I met with Stanley, Ejike and Dada and they gave me very good prices. So, we started doing business.

'Most times, they called me with different telephone numbers and we met at different hotels in Egbeda, Mile 12 areas,  Lagos, or the Mowe area of Ogun State.

I always paid cash and they handed over the vehicles to me. They told me the vehicles were impounded vehicles, so I did not suspect anything initially.

'On one occasion, however, they sold to me a blood-stained vehicle. This was when I started to suspect that they were armed robbers. I would have stopped dealing with them but the devil pushed me to continue to do business with them.'