About four years ago, Dokun Adewusi, (left)a 39-year-old from Abeokuta,
Ogun State, thought of delving into the business of selling cars.
Wanting to take after his friend who was also in the business, he said
the huge profit being made attracted him to it, but he did not seek for
advice from his friend before embarking upon it. Unfortunately for him,
the first time he made a trip to Cotonou to buy a secondhand vehicle for
resale in Nigeria, the car was impounded by the Nigeria Customs Service
and he made a loss.
So when he got back to Nigeria, he went to his friend to seek for
advice. It was then his friend told him about the secret behind his car
dealership business: buy stolen vehicles from armed robbers at cheap
prices and resell at higher prices, but still lower than the actual
market prices.
For three years that Adewusi tried this method, he said he had sold up
to 48 cars which were stolen by his armed robber partners. But ill luck
caught up with him in June 2014 when one of the cars that his colleagues
had stolen was tracked by the police. He was implicated in the matter
and is now in the custody of the Special Anti Robbery Squad of the Lagos
State Police Command.
He told Saturday PUNCH that,
“Being in my mid-thirties and having nothing to show for it, I thought
of businesses that I could do that would fetch me huge profit.
“I also partnered with some armed robbers that my friends introduced me
to. They specialised in snatching cars and from them I used to buy and
sell cars to people. I have been in the business for about three years
now until June when I was arrested by SARS men. Meanwhile, I still used
to travel to Cotonou to buy cars for resale, but many of the vehicles
that I had sold so far were the ones I bought from these armed robbers.”
Adewusi added that his armed robber partners usually operated in Lagos
and Abeokuta, Ogun State and that they only specialised in stealing
Toyota and Honda cars because those were the two brands his clients used
to demand from him and also because “those two brands are easier to
maintain than any other brand of vehicle in Nigeria.”
“Apart from selling to other people, I also used to sell these cars to
some friends who would also resell them. I have sold about 50 stolen
vehicles in my three years of operation. My suppliers used to majorly
steal Toyota Corolla, Camry and Highlander, and some Hondas.
“Once they bring the stolen vehicles to me, I would give them money.
They used to sell them for between N500,000 and N700,000 depending on
the type of the vehicle. I would then resell them ranging from N1m to
N1.2m depending on the type of the vehicle. People used to buy these
vehicles from me a lot because they were cheap.”
Asked how he used to get the particulars for the vehicles since they were stolen, he said,
“There is a person who used to process the vehicle particulars for me so
that I would be able to sell them. The name is Moji and, she works in
the Licensing Office in Oyingbo, Lagos. She would process everything for
me. Those documents are, however, fake.”
Things were going fine for Adewusi until June 2014 when he was arrested
by SARS officers when they traced a stolen vehicle to one of the armed
robbers that was his supplier.
He said,
“One of the armed robbers who used to supply me the vehicles called me
one day and told me that the car he stole had been seized by the police.
Unfortunately for us both, the car had a tracker and I guess the owner
had alerted the police to track his car.
“The police were able to track the car and arrested him. But before
then, there were people who used to help me remove trackers from them.
Their names are Rasheed and M.S. It was unfortunate we had not removed
the tracker of that car before it was traced to that my colleague.”
On the manner he used to sell the stolen cars, Adewusi concluded,
“I had no car showroom. People just used to call me to supply them cars.
I operated from my house in Abule-Egba, Lagos. They knew I was selling
cars but they did not know where I used to get the cars from. What
attracted them to me were the lower prices at which I used to sell the
vehicles. I have four children now and a wife. They have all been shamed
now because of my greed.”
Sitting alongside Adewusi is Henry Adebayo. He said he never knew
Adewusi until they met in the custody of SARS operatives attached to the
Lagos State Police Command, Ikeja in June 2014. Adebayo narrated the
connection between the two of them.
He said,
“I had a friend who we used to steal laptops and phones together
sometime ago. One day, we were arrested and we spent some time in the
prison. It was while we were in the prison that we made other friends.
After we left the prison, my friend met two other ex-prison inmates and
we started doing ‘tear net’ business again.” According to Adebayo, the
‘tear net’ business is one which involves tearing people’s window nets
and stealing laptops and phones through them. But while still in the
prison, some of the prison inmates he made friends with were some of the
armed robbers that used to supply Adewusi stolen vehicles for sale.
He said,
“When we left the prison, my friend told me that one of our fellow
prison inmates who was a car thief gave somebody a car and that the
person wanted to send him money. He asked if he could use my account
number. I told him I was not interested. However, when I came out of the
prison, I was so broke that I had to visit him again to ask for money
to eat. And since we came out of the prison, we had stolen four laptops
and two phones again. After that operation, I told him I would not do
the business again and I left him. “Two months later he called me that
the person who we went to the prison together wanted to receive some
money and that he had given him my account number. I called that person
to know what kind of deal they had before sending money into my own
account. His name is Monday.”
He continued, “I used to live in Agbara, Lagos but go for ‘tear net’
operations in Ajah. So one day, I went for a party with Monday and his
other friends, our ex prison inmates: Ojukwu, Sunday, Alhaji and others.
They said they were heading towards Ajah and I followed them for an
operation. I was paid N15,000 as my share for the first operation and
N10,000 for the second one.
“I knew Ojukwu while we were in the prison yard. I also learnt that
Ojukwu had a stolen Toyota Highlander SUV. When we all left the prison
yard, I called Ojukwu sometime in June 2014. We went to watch football
in the Isolo area of Lagos as it was during the period of the Brazil
World Cup. After the match, we went for out ‘tear net’ operation. For
three days, we stole four laptops and two phones.
“After that, I said I would not do the business again for the second
time. I wanted to do a local job, but I still used to call him whether
he too had found something else to do. One day during our conversation,
he asked if I had an account that someone wanted to send him some money.
When I called the person, he told me to come for the money. I called
Ojukwu back and he said it was the buyer of the stolen Highlander who
bought the car when we were in the prison.
“As I called Ojukwu again one day, he told me to come and that we should
go to the market. On that day I was arrested by the police because of
my bank account being linked to the operation. That buyer of the
Highlander from Ojukwu is this Henry Adebayo. It was through Ojukwu that
I am now in the custody of SARS men. I never even collected the money. I
knew nothing about it.”
Regretting his actions, he said,
“I am 30 years old with two children and a wife. I used to be a mason
before. I was also into agriculture before. In fact, I am a Christian
and even used to be a worker in the church. It is not my destiny to be
here. The next time I would be interviewed, it would be for good.”