Two brothers, Oriyomi Odutagbe, 41, and Yinka Odutagbe, 20, are in police custody for alleged forgery.
The brothers were arrested recently by officers attached to the X Squad Unit of the Lagos State Police Command following a tip off.
The officers raided the office of the suspects at the PWD Bus Stop where they recovered fake vehicle licencing documents and other equipment used by the suspects to print and sell fake documents to unsuspecting members of the public.
The fake documents recovered from the suspects included 364 pieces of forged Federal Government vehicle proof of ownership certificate, 88 pieces of Lagos State licencing payment card, also known as autoreg, 27 pieces of Federal Government of Nigeria Certificate of Road Worthiness.
Others included 200 pieces of Ogun State vehicle licence, 400 pieces of Federal Capital Territory, Abuja vehicle licence, 100 pieces of Ogun state Road Traffic Regulation Hackney Carriage Licence and one Lagos State Ministry of Transport seal.
The suspects blamed their involvement in crime on poverty.
Oriyomi said: “I used to print signage for people but the business was not lucrative and I could not fend for myself.
“So one day I met a guy called Adamu.
“He was the one who introduced me to the business of making fake documents.
“I used to hang around the Shogunle Vehicle Licencing Office where I call out to people that are coming to do documents to patronise me.
“I usually tell them I can help them get the document faster and cheaper so they will trust me and then I will get the fake document for them.”
Oriyomi also added that he was able to get patronage as his documents were faster in being processed than those from the licencing office.
He said: “You know people do not want to wait and they do not want to pay expensive for the documents.
“So I will persuade them to patronise me with the cheap fee.
“For example, the autoreg is worth like N1,500.
“But we can sell the fake ones for N200.
“We usually sell our fake document between the range of N200 and N250 as the case may be whereas the official amount can be as much as N1,500.”
When asked if he knew anything about the fake documents, Yinka, stated: “I just finished secondary school and I am trying to get money for my tertiary institution when my elder brother told me to assist him with his business.
“I never know it was an illegal business.
“I have just worked with him for like three weeks before I was arrested.”
Sadly, the brothers do not know the gravity of their crime as they stated when asked if they knew that they were in trouble with the law.
Oriyomi said: “We are with the police and I thought when they are free they will let us go to our house.
“Now you are saying we are going to be taken to Kirikiri Prison.
“I do not know that the police can send us to jail.”
One of the officers who requested anonymity said the suspect would be charged to court after a thorough investigation.
The officer said: “It is not easy to track this level of forgery.
“We are looking for other members of the gang and they will be arrested soon and charged to court.”