Two suspected car snatchers, who were paraded by the Lagos State Police Command on Tuesday, said they snatched a Honda Accord while the owner was romancing a woman in the vehicle. The suspects ─ Babatunde Makinde and Faruk Lawal ─ were apprehended by the command’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Mushin, Lagos, on Monday, September 22. Our correspondent learnt that the two suspects were on their way to snatch N20m from a man who was to travel out of the country.
The suspects were said to have snatched the Honda Accord on Morrocco Street, Somolu. The vehicle was used for their transportation. However, while they had yet to reach their destination, it was learnt that the police, who already got wind of their movement, swooped on them. According to the police, two locally-made double barrel and single barrel guns, 28 live cartridges and the snatched Honda Accord Saloon car were recovered from the gang after arrest.
33-year-old Makinde confessed that it was one Dayo, said to be the gang leader, who tipped them that a wealthy man was travelling abroad with about N20m.
He said, “We were on our way to rob the man when we noticed the man in the vehicle. It was in the evening at about 7pm. We saw the man and a lady making out in the vehicle.
The man was all over the lady while the door glasses of the vehicle were slightly wound down. We bust in on them, hit the man on the head and dragged both of them out. Then, we took the vehicle.
“We did not want to go for our operation with a bike so that the police would not stop us. That was why we snatched the man’s vehicle.”
Lawal, 38, added that the police, who were on their trail, apprehended them while they were just about to enter their would-be victim’s house . The Lagos State Police Commissioner, Cornelius Aderanti, said investigations were in progress to get other members of the gang