The Rivers State Police Command has apprehended a witch doctor along with 25 individuals implicated in a widespread car snatching racket involving the theft of 79 vehicles across the state.
Naija News reports that the shrine used by the so-called “juju-priest” to empower the criminals for their illicit activities was also sealed during the operation.
The Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, disclosed the details of the arrests during a press briefing at the Police Headquarters on Moscow Road. Among those apprehended were Chidube, Anthony, and Kelechi, a car mechanic with specialized skills in dismantling tracking devices from vehicles.
Disu highlighted Chidube’s central role in orchestrating the car snatching operation, training recruits, and maintaining connections with all arrested suspects. He noted that the stolen vehicles were primarily transported and sold in Kano and Anambra states, sometimes merely as scrap material.
Remarkably, the police linked 79 cars to the suspects’ criminal activities, identifying six of them as ex-convicts.
According to the Commissioner, the syndicate employed spare and master keys to confiscate vehicles, converting them for commercial use to elude security screenings as they transported passengers out of town.
The operation also led to the arrest of individuals believed to be receivers of the stolen vehicles. These accomplices reportedly specified the types of cars to be targeted by the robbers, who had a protocol for assaulting and shooting resistant victims. The police have recovered weapons used in these attacks.
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