Joy Anyim
Gbenga Yinka, a notorious trans-border car snatcher, whose operations spanned Oyo, Lagos and Osun states, and the Republic of Benin, has revealed how he ventured into crime.
The 36-year-old father of four children also known as Infinity was recently arrested by operatives of the Force Intelligence Response Team (IRT). He confessed his car snatching odyssey started in December 2019, seven months after he allegedly lost his means of livelihood.
The suspect, a native of Alakia in Ibadan, the Oyo State Capital, was arrested alongside four other members of the car snatching syndicate identified as Prince Chinedu, John Chidiebere, Shawarma Okpara and Anayo Victor.
The gang specialised in snatching unregistered exotic vehicles, moving the stolen vehicles to Rivers State and the Republic of Benin, where they were sold at give-away prices.
Recovered from the gang were one Ak-47 rifle with a magazine containing 15 live ammunition, belonging to a yet-to-be-identified policeman, who the gang reportedly shot dead during an operation at Ikolaba in Ibadan, two locally made guns with three live cartridges.
Making a confessional statement, Yinka, who is based in Rivers State said he chose to operate outside his base for fear of being recognised by targets since he was very popular.
He also said that the gang specialised in snatching unregistered vehicles, after several attempts to steal registered cars were stalled by trackers.
Giving a detailed account of his life of crime, Yinka said: “I am a secondary school dropout, but I was based in Port Harcourt with my family. I was also into the sales of cars, but sometime in May 2019, officials of the Nigerian Customs Service seized two cars which I bought from Cotonou, Republic of Benin, at Akure, Ondo State, while I was moving them to Port-Harcourt, Rivers State.
“I became broke and frustrated after that incident. Then I met Prince Chinedu in Bayelsa State. I told him my predicament and how difficult it has become to cater for my family. He suggested that we go into car snatching. I told him that I can’t snatch cars in Port Harcourt because I am very popular in the city. I then suggested that we go to Ibadan my home town where I know there are lots of people using flashy cars, and I am not known around the town.
“Prince accepted my idea and he brought in four of his friends and we formed a gang. I raised money and bought two locally-made guns from one Baba Ayoka in Sabo area of Ibadan at the rate of N70,000 and he gave me seven live cartridges. On our first operation, we accosted a man driving a Lexus Saloon car along Akala Road, and we trailed the car to a spot where the driver stopped to have some drink, then we struck, pointing our guns at him.
“We pretended to be law enforcement officers, we asked him to explain why he was dragging a land with his partner and before the man could say a word, we took the car key from him and dragged him into his vehicle. People at the drinking spot didn’t know that we were robbers. Since the car was registered, I suspected it would have a tracker in it, so I instructed my men to keep the man in their custody until I take the car out of Oyo State, then they can release him.
“I left for Port Harcourt immediately with the car, and when I got to Osun State, I called my men and asked them to free the man but few hours after the man was released the car stopped moving and I had to abandon the car there. It was a futile effort.
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“A few days later, we also snatched a Toyota Venza and while I was taking the vehicle to Port- Harcourt, it got tracked along Ore Road and I abandoned it there. It became obvious that all flashy registered vehicles we tried to snatch had trackers. So, we decided to start snatching unregistered vehicles.”
He alleged the gang only had two successful car snatching operation but met their waterloo after the killing of the policeman.
He continued: “The first one we got was a Mercedes Benz GLK, we snatched it in Ibadan and I took and kept it successfully with a friend in Ikire, Osun State. We also robbed a 2005 model unregistered Toyota Camry and I took it to Port-Harcourt. But our last operation led to our arrest. We sighted an unregistered vehicle at Ikolaba area of Ibadan. While we were trailing the car, we saw a policeman sitting with his Ak-47 rifle in the front seat.”
“We decided to snatch the gun from him. Two of my gang members stepped down from our operational vehicle and shot the policeman dead. We made away with his rifle. The gunshots fired at the policeman attracted the attention of many, so we feared policemen may be mobilised to the scene. We immediately left the vehicle we were trailing and returned to our hotel room.
“It was three days later, while we were still scouting for another car to snatch, that we were arrested at Gate area of Ibadan. We did not make much money as the cars we robbed were sold at cheap rates. I only went into this crime because of hardship,” he lamented.
