I couldn’t marry because of my robbery operations -suspect

                          

Its  end of the road for a 33-year-old man, Obinna Okolie, who was  dubbed the most notorious receiver of stolen goods and a key financier  and recruiter of hijackers, terrorizing  major highways  in Lagos and other parts of  the country.Saturday Vanguard learnt during the week that, Obinna who is based in Onitsha,  Anambra State, met his waterloo recently  when operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, in Lagos, led by Sp Abba Kyari,  tracked and apprehended him in  his sanctuary in Onitsha.

Sources at the Lagos State Police Command Headquarters, Ikeja, disclosed that, the  search for Obinna, who was described as highly elusive and discreet, began 10 years ago, when operatives of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad,FED-SARS, in Lagos and Abuja, including  their counterparts at the state command  levels, learnt of his notoriety, following rampant cases of hijacking and diversions, which were traceable to him although he remained elusive.Saturday Vanguard gathered that Obinna, received over 80 percent of all  hijacked or diverted goods in Lagos and other adjoining  states,  between 2003 and  2014.  He was also said to have  sponsored and maintained over 50 different gangs of armed robbers, which included military personnel, who he had used in perpetuating his criminal activities.
In the past, Saturday Vanguard had interviewed several armed robbery suspects, who had links to Obinna, after their arrest by operatives of the  Fed-SARS, Adeniji Adele, Lagos and SARS Ikeja.
They reveled how Obinna coordinated his operations and created an empire of crime in many areas.  . In 2010, at FED-SARS, Saturday Vanguard  interviewed 38-year-old  suspect identified as Emeka Ikenga, who hijacked a truck carrying, a  40 feet container with goods worth, N11 million from its driver on the Benin-Ore Road and the goods were subsequently diverted to Onitsha, Anambra State. The driver of the truck and his conductor were abducted, sedated and they slept off, but were later  dumped in the Mile 2 area of  Lagos..
The Imo State-born suspect, who was arrested at his residence in Apapa said was said to be highly fetish and and always escaped police arrest with ease. One accomplice , Ikenga, under arrest said   “if the police want to get him, I can drag him out. I wish there is anyone who could surety my release, so I can go after him, but the police would not listen. That man is bad and he has to be taken”.
Ikenga, also narrated how they hijacked the truck disguising as military personnel.  According to him, “we are based in Lagos and he is at Onitsha. Whenever we get there for operation, he would instruct us on how to go about it.  On the operation that brought me here, one of the conductors, Kalu, contacted  my Chairman,  Obinna, and they made the arrangement.
The conductor supplied the name of the driver of the truck and the number-plate. And, when they started out for the journey, Kalu  called  my chairman, we got alerted and we went after them.
”We intercepted them with our operational Hilux Jeep at Ijebu-Ode and when the driver inquired what was happening, we showed him a warrant bearing his name and the number-plate  of the truck, claiming that it was an order from the Chief of Army Staff that all trucks passing en-route should be searched for arms and ammunition and that such vehicles should be towed to the nearest Police station. ”He insisted on driving his vehicle but we refused and pushed him and his conductor into the back seat of our Jeep.
”I went back into his truck. The other members of our gang together with the driver and his conductor, headed back to Lagos.
They injected them on the way though I was not there.  After a little while, Obinna called us and instructed that we transfer the goods into another vehicle to prevent being trailed. We heeded his instruction and  Kalu followed one of the vehicles down to Onitsha and I came back to Lagos,  expecting my share of the loot  which I did not get until  my arrest.