BY ALBERT AKPOR

THEIR activities and manner of operations could be likened to shoplifting, but the difference between this syndicate who specialized only in raiding shops and supermarkets is that they operated on get away motor-bikes popularly known as Okada and bore arms even though they claimed they do not shoot at their victims.

Tund Masun and Felix Enuma

From the popular Balogun market located at the International Trade fare complex along Lagos\Badagry expressway to Abule-Osun, the ever busy Agboju market along old Ojo road to Festac town; all in Amuwo-Odofin local government area in Lagos metropolis, the notoriety and mystery behind their brisk and always successful operations lay on the lips of nearly every resident and shop owners.

The police in the divisions in which this gang operated also seemed to have been saturated with complaints and even overwhelmed by the way the gang struck and disappeared almost immediately before the news got to the stations. But while this seemingly smooth operations lasted, detectives attached to Festac Division undauntedly spred their dragnets at strategic locations including 23 and 402 roads. And just recently, two members of the syndicate fell into the waiting hands of the police while perpetrating their nefarious act in a popular supermarket in Festac town. The two suspects identified themselves as Messrs Felix Enuma and 31 and Tunde Masun 50.

Modus operandi

Giving an insight into their mode of operations, Felix Enuma, the 31 year-old Utagbogbe, Delta state born electric re-winder who saw no need lying about his arrest however blamed one of his friends, Ifeanyi for his woes. He claimed that he was introduced into robbery by the said Ifeanyi few months after he had finished his apprenticeship as an electric re-winder. He confessed that his gang had terrorized Festac town and environs for the past six months before nemesis caught up with two of them. His words: “ I came to Lagos in 1995 to live with my uncle (names withheld) after he came to the village to tell my parents that he would send me to school. But instead, he took me to one man where he said I should learn re-wiring.

I obeyed him and at the end of my apprenticeship, we fell out and he asked me to leave his house. In the process, I met one Ifeanyi who introduced me into this kind of robbery which he called ‘price and pick. He convinced me that I could use the proceeds to open my own workshop after some successful operations. That was how I bought the idea and we started robbing. What we normally do is that, we will identify a big supermarket, survey the security network around it before we strike. During operation, two of us would enter the shop armed with a gun but we do not shoot our victim (s); the gun is just to threaten them in case they want to raise an alarm. While one person will be busy pricing any product and using that tactics to occupy the shop attendant, the other person will be picking any product including whatever he lays his hands on.

Sometimes it could be handsets and purses or even bags containing money. Immediately he picks something valuable, he will give sign and we would hurry out of the shop to a waiting Okada and zoom off even before the shop owner raises alarm. Some times, if we are lucky, we used to carry bags that contains big money and even expensive handsets. The bags and handsets are normally sold to Hausa men at Alaba-Rago; they are the ones that buys all the goods that we stole.”

Tunde Masun, the second suspect who claimed to be an ex-naval rating and a native of Awori tribe in Lagos state confessed that he does not enter the shops with his gang members maintaining that all he does was to ride the motor-bike to any destination as commanded. He said he joined the gang about three months ago when life became too difficult to live in. According to him, having joined the Nigerian Navy in 1983 he had thought he would make a career out it until 1996 when he was listed for peace keeping operation in Monrovia.

During the operation, he said was injured in a bomb explosion which incidentally affected his brain. The widower who has six children said in 1998 the naval authorities discharged him as a Corporal maintaining that life has not been the same ever. “Look at me, I was in the navy and was doing well. But it is condition that has put me where I am today. I have six children without a wife; my wife died two years ago. Having been discharged from the navy as a corporal as a result of the injury I sustained in Monrovia, things became difficult for me. There was nobody to help me with my children’s upkeep. So I bought an Okada with the little money I had. One day I met Felix who introduced me into the deal and I said ok, but I told the gang that I will not be entering shops with them. At the end of every operation, they gave me whatever they felt was good for me. That was how we operated until we were arrested recently by the police in Festac. Look at my age and look at what poverty had put into.”

Police reacts

The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Festac Division, Mr. Usman Ndanbabo described the gang as a pain in the neck adding, “ This people are terrible! It got to a stage when I could no longer understand what was going on. Some say members of the gang are invisible while others said their mode of operation was inexplicable. At a time I became saturated with complaints and I decided to do underground work. The result of our intelligence network is what you are seeing now.”