According to The Nation, Chigozie Anene, a 29-year-old man, admitted to engaging in armed robbery, specifically the stealing of tricycles, in order to expand his second-hand clothing company and give his late father a proper funeral.

Anene also admitted that he and his crew bought stolen things from burglars and armed robbers.

He claimed that he used to steal expensive vehicles and tricycles and then sell them for pennies. They may, for example, sell a car worth N10 million for half a million naira, he said.

According to police sources, he had a tricycle mechanic assisting him in changing some parts of a stolen tricycle so that whoever bought it would not realize it was stolen. After his group was busted by the Inspector General of Police’s Intelligence Response Team, Anene was alleged to have gone into hiding (IRT).

According to the informant, an IRT operative, pretending as a customer, asked Anene if he had a tricycle he wanted to sell. As soon as he appeared to meet with the ‘buyer,’ he was detained.

Anene, a father of two, explaining how he got into armed robbery said, “I live in a one-room apartment at No. 4 Mosalasi Street, Igando, Lagos.

“I used to operate as a one-man gang, singlehandedly stealing tricycles in my neighborhood.

“My problem started when one Tunbu and one Prince became my friends and lured me into forming a three-man robbery gang to make bigger money.

“They convinced me that there is less risk in snatching cars than tricycles and that stolen cars have more standby buyers.”

When asked why he chose to operate as a one-man gang, he explained that he didn’t have to carry a gun and didn’t have to worry about being exposed by any captured gang members.

He stated: “The urge to give my father a befitting burial contributed most to my forming a robbery gang as well as getting enough money to boost my second-hand clothes business and live big like some of my mates.

“When I decided to stop armed robbery, my members nearly assassinated me because they felt that they were no longer safe and they would not be able to rest after any robbery operation, because I could become a police informant.”

Explaining what pushed him into armed robbery, he said, “When I wanted to start second-hand clothes business, there was no capital and no collateral to borrow money with.

“To make matters worse, my father had no savings and did not leave anything of value that I could sell to get some money to start business with.

“I was desperate to get money to boost my business and give my late father a befitting burial.

“It was last year that my father died. I went to bury him and came back. Unfortunately, one boy carried my market, sold it, and ran to Cotonou.

“When I went to their house and could not find him, I carried his elder brother’s generator and sold it for N6,000.

“My problem worsened when one of my friends named Kaka said we should do business together, not knowing that what he meant was for us to form a car snatching gang.

“He told me that we should start lifting and selling Big Daddy (Toyota) cars and fairly used tricycles to make more money.

“The first Big Daddy car and so-called fairly used tricycles we got, I could not account for any of them because my members refused to tell me whether they sold them or not.

“Rather, they kept telling me that the police were pursuing them and they had to abandon the stolen vehicles, which sounded to me like a cock and bull story. They have not given me a dime from the stolen vehicles.

“When I tried to locate Kaka, they told me that he had relocated to his village while Tunbu’s whereabouts are still not known to till now.”