Royal Thief? Newly Crowned Chief Caught Vandalizing Car In Lagos

Ifeanyi Nwigwe who was recently given a chieftaincy title in Mbaise, Imo State is now cooling off in police detention after he was arrested in Lagos for robbery. As one of the respectable men in Mbaise, Ifeanyi was crowned the Aku enwe ebe 1 of Ezinihitte Mbaise  (money is not restricted to any town) by the community. Ifeanyi who had been on the wanted list of the Lagos State police command, was arrested alongside his relative, Vincent Emezuem and both men are now in the custody of the Special Anti Robbery Squad, Ikeja, Lagos. Upon interrogation, both men admitted to having vandalized hundreds of cars in Lagos and other states. Disclosing how he ventured into the criminal act, Ifeanyi said while learning the trade of auto parts business, he discovered that most of the goods sold at Ladipo market were stolen. He therefore decided to cut corners by learning how to get those cheap motor parts from the right source. “I discovered that those who were supplying these stolen motor spare parts were driving cars and building houses. I briefly learnt from one Martin, how to successfully vandalize cars undetected. So, sometime in 2010, I went into full vandalization. Initially, our target areas were in big churches where they park cars carelessly without any security man ensuring the safety of the cars. “It was becoming risky, so we started working at night and I discovered that for every successfully operation, we will almost leave with a bag full of motor spare parts. These include motor top gasket which we normally sell to dealers at the price of N10,000, N15,000 or even N20,000 depending on  the content. Others are side mirrors, the head lamps and so many other things that are in hot demand in the market. In Nigeria, there is much demand for Toyota and Honda products, so we concentrate on these two brands,” Ifeanyi said. But he ran out of luck when he was caught in the act on May 11, 2014, vandalising a car in the Ojo area of Lagos.