The operatives of the Lagos State Rapid Squad (RRS) arrested two suspects, who specialise in vandalising and stealing vehicle brain boxes.
The suspects Sodiq Musa, 28, and Saidu Atiku, 34 were arrested at on Awolowo Way, Ikeja with three Toyota vehicle brain boxes while Ridwan Adamu escaped with the fourth box.
One of the suspects, Musa claimed he studied political science from one of the Nigerian universities and moved to Lagos in 2017 after his graduation, in search of greener pasture.
“I worked in Lagos as a barbeque man in various hotels and events before I met Ridwan who introduced me to brain box theft and taught me all the antics and styles.”
“We use ‘magic stone’ that is, vehicle spark plug to break vehicle windows without attracting attention. It takes two minutes to loose a Toyota Hiace bus brain box and it takes four minutes to lose a Toyota Hilux box”.
“The spark plug reduces the noise and effects quick break of any vehicle window and we tie the plug in a handkerchief in a situation where we have multiple vehicles to work on.”
Musa in his confessional statement to the RRS operatives, Sodiq said that Saidu was a security guard who worked for a company located in Ikeja where they were arrested and had earlier in the day called Ridwan who is the leader of the team to come feast on vehicles belonging to their company but parked outside the company’s premises.
On getting the hint, Ridwan and Sodiq set to action and got to the venue around 1:00 a.m. They broke into two Toyota Hiace and two Toyota Hilux buses belonging to the company and removed the vehicles’ brain boxes before another security nearby raised alarm.
This led to their arrest. Musa was caught with three boxes while Ridwan fled with one.
Sodiq was taken to RRS headquarters, where he confessed the involvement of Saidu. He disclosed that he invited them for the operation and was reported to have slept beside the vehicles, which they vandalised.
“We specialised in stealing Toyota brain boxes because they fetch good money in the market. The demand for them are higher than any other brand. For example we sold a Toyota Hiace brain box for N40,000 while that of Toyota Hilux goes for N20,000”.
“Ridwan connects with the buyers of the brain boxes who he claimed are from the popular spare part market in Lagos. We always meet the buyers outside the market where we exchange our loots for cash.
They usually pay in cash and will never wait more than two minutes as we already have an understanding on the prices,” the suspect confessed to RRS operatives on Sunday.
He further confessed that their target areas are night clubs where people come with different types of vehicles and they always strike between 1:00am and 2:00 am when most of the clubbers would have started enjoying themselves”
The state Commissioner of Police, Zubairu Muazu has directed the transfer of the case to state CID, Panti.
