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Got this report on Saturday Sun about how a gang
use dating website Badoo to lure men to lonely places where they rob and
sometimes kill them.
Members of
a five-man gang of kidnappers, including a lady, have given a gory detail of
how they lure men through a popular online dating website known as Badoo to a
lonely spot where they attack and rob them of their valuables while the
unfortunate ones will be strangled.
The
suspects, Micheal Eneji, his brother, Emmanuel Eneji, Chukwu Chibueze, Gift
Princess, and Lekia Emmaden Isaac, were apprehended by the Rivers State police
command days after the family of one of
their latest victims, Shola Olaseinde reported the victim missing.
He was later found in a decomposing state in a bush,
close to a deserted pipeline area at Eleme, Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Few
metres away, was also the decomposed body of another victim, who was later
identified as Mr. Progress Benin Disi, a staffer of Shell Oil servicing company
whose family had also reported missing since March 7, 2014.
On their arrest, the state Commissioner of Police,
Tunde Ogunsakin told Saturday Sun that the command acted on the complaint by
the family of one of their victims, Shola Olaseinde who got missing on March
26, 2014.
“When his family waited for him and could not reach
him, they lodged a complaint and I instructed the officer in charge of
anti-kidnapping, CSP Akan to hunt for the missing father and husband.
“Through intelligence gathering, we were able to
arrest the gang of four men and a lady. They led us to Ebubu, Eleme, Rivers
State, at an abandoned shell pipeline borrow pit where the corpse of Shola was
lying in a decomposed state. Few metres away was also the decomposed body of
another victim, Mr. Progress Benin Disi, a staffer of Shell Oil servicing
company.”
Explaining the gang’s modus operandi, CP Ogunsakin
said: “Normally they pose as women on most of these dating sites. As soon as
they lure their victim, they would arrange a meeting. The lady’s duty is to
meet with the men who are normally very rich. As soon as they get them, she
will lure them to a secluded place and alert members of their gang. They will
overpower the individual and tie the person up while they withdraw money from
his account through ATM.
“I hope that Nigerians will learn a lesson from this
and realise that in as much as great and useful information can be got on net,
it is also an avenue for fraud.”
At the police station, the leader of the gang,
Michael Eneji, a 27-year-old footballer confessed to the crime and said that
his gang didn’t know that the late Shola would not be able to escape from the
forest after dispossessing him of his valuables.
In his words: “When I couldn’t afford to pay my
school fees, I decided to go into love dating scam. I dwell mainly on Badoo
chat that most Nigerian men visit regularly. I surf the net and select pictures
of black models and impersonate them. As soon as they see this picture, some
will send a message and I will reply. They will ask for my number and I will
give them. I also have a Tecno phone that has a special voice prompt that
allows a man to sound like a woman.
Once I establish a contact, I will go to the next
step which is to convince them that I will satisfy their sexual urge.
“Pretending to be a big girl, I will tell them to
meet me at a Conoil petrol station, before the trailer park along Eleme road
while one of my boys, Chibueze will go there and meet them as my domestic
servant and direct them to my house. To convince them to come, I will claim
that I live in one of the estates alone and it will be safer to meet there so
that they will not be caught.
“In their car, Chibueze will tell them to drive
towards a deserted place where we will lay ambush. Dressed in police uniform,
we will stop them and demand to know what they are doing in such a deserted
place. We will overpower them and tie their hands and legs while we take their
valuables, including their ATM cards.
“Two of us will go to the bank and withdraw money
from their account through their ATM. If there is no money in the account, we
will loosen the rope and disappear. This will enable the person to untie
himself and go home.”
According to Eneji, they have fleeced so many men
before they were arrested. “I never knew that Mr. Disi and Shola did not escape
till I was arrested. I can only recall
that both of them had so much money in their accounts, so we decided to keep
them for some days to enable us to withdraw enough money from their accounts”,
he added.
On how he lured their latest victim, the suspect
said: “Shola showed interest in having an affair with the lady he saw on my
Badoo display picture. He demanded to see her, so I told him that I am free
around 7pm and he told me that it was the perfect time to hang out.
“At about that time, he drove to the spot with his
driver and Chibueze, who was on ground, joined him. He directed them to the
spot and we took over the car, tied him and the driver up. He did not have much
cash with him unlike the others. When we got to the bank, I realised that he
had about N4.5 million in his account. Blindfolded, we took him further into
the bush and decided to keep him there for some days to enable us to empty that
account while the driver must have escaped from the initial spot where he was
tied. Few days later, we were arrested. I never knew that he did not escape
alive,” Eneji narrated.
Continuing, he said: “The second victim, Mr Disu was
not my contract. It was Elijah the leader of another group that contracted me
to help execute the job. I became interested when he told me that the maga (the
late Disu) works with Shell company. All I did was to lure him to visit by
promising him good sex. I do not know if they killed him because of the huge
amount that was found in his account. The truth is that we do not kill, but rob
them of their valuables. We will sell
the car, withdraw as much as we can from their ATM and disappear. We know that
such crime might not be reported because the man will not tell his family or
the police why he was robbed to protect his image. It is unfortunate that they
died; we left them there still breathing. The only difference is that we did
not loosen the rope so that they can easily escape.”
On the role of the lady in their midst, Eneji said:
“She is my fiancée and I normally use her to further convince our target to
assume that we are real. If the target insists that I should come and see him,
I will send my girl to go and meet him.
She will be the one that will lure them to the spot where we can take
over.”
He also revealed that he is known in Badoo as Cindy
and Empress. “Once you search for beautiful models on Google search, you will
have so many options. If you want so many toasters, select the ones that expose
their breasts. I am terribly sorry that these men died in the process. We found
out that it is easier to collect money in exchange for sex.
“I dropped out of school because my rich relatives
refused to help my mother to train us. I can only get money from them if I send
a woman to go and seduce them. I am terribly sorry.”
Another suspect, Lekia Emmaden Isaac, corroborating
Eneji’s story, said that it was his duty to tie victims up. “We have done that
severally and when we return, we will realise that they have gone back. I did
not kill Mr Shola; all I did was to tighten him up very well so that he will
not escape immediately. I was shocked when I heard that he was found dead. It
is possible that snake attacked him since he was kept in a deserted area.”
Yet another suspect, Chibueze, 17, who acted as
Eneji’s domestic servant, said his duty was just to take the victim to the spot
where he will be attacked. “I did not participate in the main robbery; all I
did was to take the suspect to the point where he will be robbed. To convince
the victim that I am not part of the set-up, they will also beat me up and I
will run away. After the operation, they will give me my own share of the
loot.”
The only girl in their midst, Gift Princess claimed
that her service was only needed if there is need to see the man in question or
speak with him further on phone. “During Shola saga, he called requesting that
I should direct him. I then told him that my domestic servant will wait for him
at the agreed spot. He later called back complaining that he was not
comfortable with the route that they passed through. Unfortunately, he was
already at the spot and my fiancée, Eneji and others took over from there. I
was only helping my husband to raise enough money to pay my bride price,” Gift
confessed.
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This is a serious case ooo...Whom can we trust?
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