A 34-year-old man, Chidi Offor, has told operatives of the Inspector-General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team, led by Deputy Commissioner of Police Abba Kyari, that his elder brother taught him how to steal.
Offor, trained in POP installation and panting, was always hired by contractors to install POP in new buildings or paint for them.
It was under that guise that he used to steal at the site.
It has become an habit, which he finds difficult to jettison.
After he was arrested by Operatives of IRT, Offor confessed that it was his elder brother that taught how to be stealing at building sites.
His words: “I reside at the Gwagwar area of Abuja.
“It was my elder brother that taught me how to steal at building sites.
“I met Wiper, who does the same job with me, and we started working together.
“We were also stealing wires at sites because they were easy to carry.
“In Gwarimpa, I stole over 20 coils of wires from a site, which I took to Dei Dei Market and sold to Itekebe.
“It was my friend Emeka, who took me to do a job at Guzape.
“At Guzape, we stole all the cables we found at the site and sold them.
“I got N300,000 as my share of the proceeds.
“We also stole from another site at Guzape.
“I also got N300,000 as my share.
“I used the money to solve family problems.
“I paid house rent, bought clothes and fed with the rest.”
Offor was part of a five-man gang arrested for allegedly specialising in burgling building sites in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja to steal building materials.
The suspects have been identified as Emeka Emmanuel, alias Wiper; Chidi Offor; Kalu Chukwu; Ikechukwu Udeji; Chijioke Igwe; and James Jabi.
They were arrested after stealing at building sites located in Guzape and Gwarimpa areas of Abuja.
They were alleged to have stolen wires worth over N10 million.
The police said: “One of the gang members, James Jabi, who had gone to one of the sites at Guazape in search of window fixing job, invited members of his gang to the site after he discovered that there were many coils of wires at the site.
“The wires were supposed to be used for the building.
“James contacted the leader of the gang, Wiper, informing him about the operation.
“Five other members of the gang were also brought in.
“They went to the site at about 4am and loaded the wires into a truck and disappeared.
“They later sold the wires to waiting buyers at Jabi Market in Abuja for N1.2 million.
“It was after the theft was discovered that the matter was reported at the Abuja office of the IRT.
“Operatives were deployed to the scene to investigate.
“During investigation, workers at the site were interrogated.
“The investigators discovered that one of the persons who had come to look for job at the site had organised the theft.
“The suspect was trailed and arrested and during interrogations, he confessed to the crime.
“He led operatives in arresting other members of the gang, including buyers.”
Wiper, alleged to be leader of the gang, said: “I started installing POP in 2016.
“Before then, I was a trader, selling spare parts in Zuba Market.
“We had to leave the market after our landlord sold the shops.
“I went on to learn how to install POP.
“Then one of my friends, known as Osors, who is late now, taught me how to steal at building sites.
“What we target most are wires.
“This is because we can hide them in our work bags and take them out.
“I can carry three coils of wires in my bag and nobody would know.
“I sell them at Jabi, Dei Dei and Gudu markets.
“I sell to Uche, Utekebe and Ubaka.
“They buy the small ones for N3,000, the medium one for N8,500 and the large size for N20,000.
“James, who is a site worker at Guzape and Gwarimpa, brought the job that got us into trouble.
“He told us that he went to a site at Guzape to look for window fixing job and discovered that there were plenty wires in the compound.
James called me because he knew I was an expert in stealing wires at building sites.
“I then invited Chidi, Kalu and others.
“James invited Igwe.
“We stole all the wires we found in the house.
“We sold them to Itekebe for N1.2 million.
“My share was N300,000 and every other person got their share of the money.”
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