By Izunna Okafor, Awka
A notorious phone snatcher and illicit drug trafficker arrested in Anambra State has confessed that not having job forced him to venture into crimes as means of survival.
The suspect, Mr. Mmaduabuchi Nwankwo, who said he had been in the street for long, further confessed that the man who introduced him into the crimes is highly connected with some top and highly-placed security operatives in the State. He further confessed that the Boss, whom he reports to, assured him that he would always intervene and facilitate his immediate release whenever he is arrested in the crimes.
Mr. Nwankwo, who made the confessions when he was being interrogated alongside five other crime suspects in Awka, however, did not mention the names of his ‘Boss’ and the security personnel he is related and connected to.
The suspects, who were paraded at the Headquarters of the Operations Clean and Healthy Anambra (OCHA Brigade) in Awka, were also indicted to other forms of crimes, such as cable vandalism, among others.
In his own confession, one of the suspects, Mr. Ibrahim Mohammed (from Bauchi State), who was apprehended for cable vandalism, said he was not involved in vandalizing the cable, but only usually escorts his best friend to sell the cables at Onitsha. He also said the friend usually pays him N2000 or N2,500 each time he escorts him, depending on the proceeds from the sales of the cable.
Other suspects also apprehended for the cable vandalism, who include Mr. Ikechukwu Ani (from Enugu State), Kabiru Bala (from Kogi State), and Musa Umaru (from Jigawa state), all said they were innocent of the accusation that they vandalized cables. They however attested that they were friends and business partners to the vandalizers and to the people who buy the cables at Onitsha.
Earlier parading the suspects on behalf of his principal, the Public Relations Officer of OCHA Brigade, Mr. Anthony Agbafune, said the suspects were arrested during raids carried out at their hideouts at different locations in Awka and Bridge Head, Onitsha. He said the raid was carried out by the enforcement team of the Brigade and the operatives of the Anambra State Vigilante Group (AVG).
According to him, the suspects are members of different gangs, some of whom specialize in vandalizing electrical cables across the state and supplying same to dealers in Onitsha, while others specialize in phone snatching and illicit drug trafficking.
Agbefune also explained that Nwankwo was caught red-handed snatching phones in Awka, and was also found to be in possession of different illicit drugs when apprehended.
While noting that the suspects might have learnt crimes and criminality through bad friends, the OCHA Brigade Spokesman warned the youths to desist from keeping bad friends; even as he assured prompt prosection of the suspects, where the full weight of the law shall be accordingly invoked on them.
