Ex-police corporal reveals exploits of his robbery gang

An ex-police corporal, Christ Oboko, who is also a pastor and leader of a notorious robbery gang terrorizing   Port Harcourt City, Rivers State, for a long time, has been arrested by operatives of the Inspector General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team, IRT.   The suspect who was attached to a special criminal squad code named C4I, in Rivers State, was arrested alongside three others.

They were said to have confessed during interrogations of having stolen several vehicles, within Port Harcourt city, which they sold to buyers in Owerri, Imo State. Oboko who resides at Police Barack in Borokiri area of the city was said to be the gang’s armorer who provided the guns which the gang used in its operations. He also provided cover for them while moving the stolen vehicles to the buyers Police sources disclosed that members of his gang while terrorizing Port Harcourt city enjoyed full protection from Oboko, who normally secured bail for them and defended them whenever they were arrested by the police.   A police source disclosed that Oboko normally produced fake vehicle documents for each vehicle that was snatched and he also changed the vehicle engine and chassis numbers before transporting to the buyer. When Crime Guard interviewed Oboko, he confessed snatching eight vehicles and selling them to one Victor based in Owerri.   35-year-old Oboko, who is a native of Onitcha Ugbo in Delta state lamented that his informant lured him into crime; “I am married with children and I reside at Police Barracks on   Iche Street, Borokiri, Port Harcourt.   I joined the Nigeria Police Force in April 2003   and I have served at   Boroki Police Division. From there I went to Special Anti-Robbery Squad SARS before joining   C4I.   I started the business of car snatching in 2015 when I meet Amandi. He was he our informant and he lured me into robbery.     It all   started when Amandi   brought two vehicles and gave them to Victor Nwogu to sell.   I met them during the negotiation   and from there I offered to join them. Our exploits I robbed a Toyota Camry car at D-line area of Port Harcourt . We took the car to Victor in Owerri. I sold the car to him for N200,000.   Three of us were involved. I took N70,000 and gave Amandi and Kelvin the balance to share.   On the second operation, the three of us also went to D-line where we stole three Camry cars from the park. We took the vehicles to Victor in Owerri who paid us N360, 000. I got N150, 000 as my share. We also snatched   a Toyota Corolla, from Elelanwan area  with a gun and took the car  to Victor who paid N250,000. I   took N80,000  and I gave the rest to Amandi and Kelvin to share. We also snatched a Toyota Spider at GRA, from its owner at gun point and parked it inside Borokiri sand field.   But before we arrived in the morning the car had been removed. Aiding, abetting criminals I was always going to secure the release of my gang members whenever they were arrested by the police and I don’t know what came over me. I am the  resident Pastor of Battle Axe Assembly church at Chuba Allo area of Port Harcourt and I have a calling.   I just don’t know what pushed me to go and join Amandi in his evil business. On his part, his partner in crime, Amandi, a 27-year-old native of Bayelsa State, opened up on their exploits too. He said; “I was a commercial bus driver before I went into robbery and I started by snatching cars. One of my friends, Kelvin, who we normally call Side-Mirror, a fellow commercial bus driver led me into my first gang headed by one Okute, who is from Edo State. Side-Mirror and I were both drivers but he was always looking better and spending more money than me.   When my wife became pregnant and I needed money to arrange for her delivery, and things were not working well for me, I approached Side-Mirror for assistance and he revealed that bus driving wasn’t the only job he did    He took me to his boss, one Okute at Diop area of Port Harcourt area and since I was a good driver, I was accepted into the gang.     When I joined I discovered that  Okute had several boys working for him . Whenever my boss wanted to go for an operation, he would come to our base at Market Junction in Port Harcourt, and pick anyone he wanted to work with. We stole five cars in one night operation “I went to five operations with him and in our first operation, we stole a Toyota Camry at Market Junction.   My boss saw the car where it was parked and liked it, he then stole it in the night and took it to Owerri and gave it to one Kabiru, a uniformed man.   In my second operation, we stole five cars in one night.   Three of us were involved in that operation and we first stole a white colored Toyota Corolla from Elekoyo Estate, Port Harcourt. We also stole two Nissan Sunny vehicles from Artillery area of Port harcourt as well as two Toyota Camry cars   from D-line area of Port Harcourt. We parked all the cars at Diop and the  next day, we called   Ifeanyi,   an ex-policeman to assist us drive the cars to Owerri, and hand it over to Kabiru, who paid N500,000 for the two Camrys while Okute alone went and collected the balance . He gave me N60, 000 as my share.   Side-Mirror and I  became angry with Okute.   Two weeks later he came to Port Harcourt with a Toyota Corolla and he asked us to watch over it but Side-Mirror made away with it and appealed to  him to give us the balance from the five cars  we took to Owerri, but he lied that he had not been paid. My encounter with Corporal Oboko Two of my friends, who kidnapped a former local government Chairman in Bayelsa State brought two of the man’s cars to me to sell in Port Harcourt, and when I was checking the cars in Nembe Waterside, Corporal Oboko and one of his colleagues confronted us and took the cars away from us.     He didn’t   take the cars to the station but converted the cars to his own use.   Three months after, he saw me on the road and asked me to forgive him saying that he would like me to work with him. He took me to his boss at C4I and told him that I was highly resourceful   and I can give them information about armed robbers operating   within Rivers state.   His boss promised to reward me handsomely if I assisted them and I accepted.   I gave them information   that led to the arrest of big armed robbers and they   recovered assorted arms and  ammunition. I was rewarded as promised but after some month, Corporal Oboko called me and said that the car he took from me was giving him trouble and he needed another car and wanted me to get it for him.  I told him that I had stopped stealing cars since I started working with them, but   he insisted and said that he would follow me to wherever I wanted to steal the car and would ensure that I was successful. Robbery operations with Oboko We both went out on the first operation and we stole a Honda end of discussion. He then gave his father the old car and started riding the new one. He then suggested that we should go for more robberies.   He also established contact with a stolen vehicle receiver in Owerri, and we started stealing cars from parks around Port Harcourt at night. We stole several cars and took them to the receiver in Owerri and we shared the proceeds equally.   We were very close to the extent that when ever I was arrested, my people would call him and he would come to the police station and tell them that I was his boy and I worked for C4I and the policemen would release me.   At a point, Oboko said he was tired of operating at the dead of the night and he wanted to start using guns to snatch cars whenever he needed them. I thought he was joking , but few days after he said this, he brought two pistols, which he claimed he bought. We did several operations together around Port Harcourt, but at a point, Oboko started cheating me.   After snatching a car he would take it to the receiver, sell it and refused to give me my share. He also stopped carrying me along and was working with some other boys he knew through me. Not long after then, I was arrested and I led the police to apprehend him.