The corpses of a manager in Shell Development Petroleum Company
(SDPC) Nigeria and another businessman who were allegedly killed in
Rivers State by fraudsters impersonating as women on a dating site, have
been retrieved from a bush
The late Shell manager, Mr. Progress Benin Disi, went missing on
March 7, while Shola Olaseinde, the businessman got missing on March 26.
Police, it was gathered, were initially working on kidnap until
investigation led them to the discovery of a syndicate said to
specialise in luring people, especially rich men through dating sites
with a view to ripping them off. The detectives reportedly opened
communication with the gang and were able to arrest five of them
including a pregnant woman.
The expectant mother, it was learnt,
was the bait used by the gang to engage their victims in sweet talks by
phone. The leader of the group identified as, Micheal Eneji a 27 year-
old footballer said they were unaware of Olaseinde’s death until their
arrest.
Asked how they killed their victims, he said: “We will
take their ATM cards and go to the bank with the pin number they gave us
and begin to withdraw N100, 000 every day until the account is blocked.
“We did not know that Olaseinde and Disi were unable to untie
themselves like others before them and escape”.
He blamed his
involvement in crime on hard times. “When I couldn’t afford to pay my
school fees, I decided to go into love dating scam. I dwell mainly on
Badoo that many Nigerian men visit regularly. “I surf the net and select
pictures of black models and impersonate them by using them as my own
so that the men will think they are dealing with a woman. As soon as
they see the picture, some send a message to me and I will respond.
“They
will ask for my number and I will give them. I have a Techno phone that
has a special voice prompt that allows a man to sound like a woman.
“Once I establish 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 petrol station on 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 by their
wives or girlfriends. While in their cars, Chibueze will tell them to
drive towards a deserted place where we would lay ambush for them,
dressed in police uniforms. We will stop them and demand to know what
they are doing in such a deserted place.
“We will over power them
and tie their hands and legs while we take their valuables including
their ATM card. “Two of us will go the bank and withdraw money from
their account through their ATM. If there no much money in the account,
we will release loosen the rope and disappear this will enable the
person to untie himself and go home.”
Eneji confessed that the
gang had defrauded a lot of men before they were arrested. He said that
the gang kept Olaseinde and Disi for several days to enable them (gang)
deplete their ‘huge’ accounts. On how Olaseinde was killed,he said: “I
told him to come 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 his driver up. He did not have
much cash with unlike the others. When we got to the bank, I realized
that he had about N4.5million naira in his account.
“Blindfolded,
we took him further into the bush and decided to keep there for some
days to enable us empty that account. A few days later we were arrested.
I never knew that he did not escape. “The second victim, Mr Disi 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 (late Disi) worked in Shell Petroleum. “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 accounts 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; they were still breathing
when we left them there. The only difference is that we did not loosen
the rope so that they could 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 would be the one that will lure them to the spot
where we can take over.” He goes by the names Cindy and Empress on
Badoo. “Once you search for beautiful models on Goggle search, you will
have so many options. If you want so many toasters, select the ones that
expose their breast. 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.” A member of the gang ,
Lekia Emmaden Isaac, said his own duty was to tie their victims. He
said: “We have done that severally and when we return, we found that
they have escaped. “I did not kill Olaseinde. All I did was to tie him
up very well so that he would not escape immediately. I was shocked when
I heard that he was found dead. It is possible that a snake attacked
him since he was kept in a deserted area.”
Chibueze, a 17
year-old, who acted as domestic servant said his duty was just to take
the victim to a spot where they would be attacked by the other members
of the gang. “I did not participate in the main robbery; all I did was
to take the suspect to the point where he would be robbed.” Gift
Princess, the expectant mother said: “Olaseinde called, requesting that I
should direct him. I then told him that my domestic servant would 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 fiancé, Eneji and
others took over from there. “ I was only helping my husband to raise
enough money to pay for my bride price.”
The State Command
Commissioner of Police, Tunde Ogunsakin said operatives acted based on a
report by the family of one of their victims, Olaseinde that he had
been kidnapped. “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 of two. Through
Intelligence gathering, we were able to arrest the gang . They led us
to Ebubu, Eleme, in Rivers state at an abandoned Shell pipeline borrowed
pit where the corpse of Shola was lying decomposed.
Ogunsakin
said the suspects posed as women in most of these love dating site. As
soon as they lured 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 would come and tie the person and then go
ahead to withdraw money from his account through ATM”.
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READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/64900.html