Police authorities in Abuja, yesterday, smashed a syndicate that specialised in robbing bank customers by swindling them of their, ATM, cards and pins, with the leader saying they got their ‘business’ idea from reading newspapers.
The suspects are specialists in in stealing ATM cards and its pin from bank customers who may be having difficulty in operating ATM machines.
The suspects were identified as David Wuese, Chika Okenyi, Omotayo Bamidele and Akura Godwin.
It was gathered that the suspects were nabbed following complaints from members of the public who had been dispossessed of their ATM cards from across the country.
Following the complaints, the IGP was said to have detailed the head of the IRT team, Abba Kyari, to investigate and round up the suspects.
Armed with the IGP’s directive, the team trailed the gang to their hideouts in Enugu, Benue and Nassarawa states from where they were arrested.
The leader of the syndicate Wuese, 27, disclosed that the syndicate was formed in Markurdi, Benue State and that they lunched their activities across several states in the country.
Wuese said,
“We read about something similar to our operation in the newspapers, but modified it. Some of the ATM cards found in our possession were all invalid and that was what we were using to steal from our victims.
We don’t operate in one state. After stealing a card, we will check the balance and if the money is below N20,000, we don’t touch it. But if the amount in the account is huge, we withdraw money by phones, which we would resell at cheaper prices.
Sometimes, we take the ATMs to night clubs and hotels where we pay with cards. In our last operation, we bought three Samsung Galaxy Edge for N245,000 each and we sold them for N215,000.
We also bought three Blackberry Passport for N130,000 each and sold them for N90,000. We also got two Infinix phones for N82,000 and it was sold for N60,000.
“I can’t recall the number of operations we have carried out, but we normally share all the money we have made equally.
“I have bought a Toyota Camry with my own share of our loot. I don’t know what my friends have done with their own share.”
Source: DailyTrust
