A suspected evil
pastor who allegedly doubled as the ring leader of a deadly gang of
armed robbers has been nabbed. Pastor and General Overseer of a ministry
in Eket, Akwa-Ibom, one pastor Eze was arrested by the operatives of
Ondo State Police Command Special Anti-Robbery Squad(SARS) who trailed
him to Eket, Akwa-Ibom after being exposed by members of his gang.
The deadly
four-man gang that specialized in snatching of high profile cars and
Sports Utility Vehicles(SUV) according to police sources had been
terrorizing residents of Akure, Ondo State capital, and Ilesha in Osun
State before they met their waterloo. The 41-year old pastor popularly
known as Chairman was said to be the sole receiver of the cars snatched
from innocent people and disposed them off in Akwa-Ibom.
It was gathered that whenever Pastor Eze and his gang went for operation
he would stay in an hotel while the four gang members would be carrying
out their nefarious activities of snatching cars on the road .
When the car has
been snatched it would be taken to the Pastor in the hotel. The Pastor
would drive the stolen car to Akwa Ibom where it would be sold . One of
such stolen vehicle was said to have been sold for N2.5million
On March 6, 2012, Pastor Eze and his gang stormed Akure. He lodged in an
hotel as usual and his gang members double-crossed a woman, one Mrs
Olubunmi who was driving an SUV along FUTA Road and snatched her car.
The car was taken
away and when information got to the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS),
it swung into action and got one of the gang members arrested in Akure
.
Speaking with our reporter, Commissioner of Police, Ondo State Police
Command, Mr Edgar Nanakumu said the command has been facing a serious
problem of combating car snatchers within the state. “We have received
several complaints of car snatching and immediately the information
came to us about this latest one.
I quickly
mobilized men of SARS and they swung into action and arrested one of
the gang members and he confessed that one Pastor Eze who was their
gang leader always sold the snatched cars at Akwa Ibom State.”
Nanakumu explained that the policemen had to travel to Eket in Akwa Ibom
State and arrested the said Pastor who happened to be the General
Overseer (GO) of a church which has a large congregation in Akwa Ibom.
He was arrested
with charms, ritual rings and Bible in his house. Pastor Eze, according
to the Ondo CP confessed right in Akwa Ibom that he is the leader of
the gang of armed robbers and the receiver of snatched cars and that he
used to sell them at Akwa Ibom State. CP Nanakumu said that the
policemen arrested the four members of the robbery gang and that they
confessed their operations in several states.
Some of the victims are said to have visited the police headquarters to
identify their snatched cars and most of them have confirmed that the
recovered cars were theirs.
One of the
victims, one Mr Sola told our reporter that “ It was a bitter experience
when he was robbed and the hoodlums snatched his car. He said he had to
report the matter at the Police Command .“The police did their best ,
they couldn’t succeed . It was when I heard the information that the
police have been able to arrest some suspects that I came to check if
they were those that snatched my car and I was able to identify one of
the suspects.
I am highly
impressed by the police effort,” he said.
Another victim, one Mrs Olubunmi said: “I was greeting my friend when
suddenly four armed men double crossed me with their Honda Accord Car
and succeeded in taking my car away. I quickly went to report the
incident at the police station. The police tried their best as they
swung into action but the robbers escaped.“I was impressed when the
story got to me that the Police have arrested some of the suspects in
Akure . I was able to identify two of the suspects,” she said.
The suspected
ringleader, in his confession said:“ I have a ring which the police
recovered from me. I used the ring for power to bail out people from
their problems . When a woman is not pregnant and I touched her with the
ring, she would get pregnant. I used to deceive some of them and sleep
with the women who came to church for counseling.
CP Nanakumu said the command has been able to arrest the four suspects.
He said that the command is still investigating the matter and that
when it is concluded the suspects would be charged to court.
