Moshood Adebayo
A phone dealer, Da-Silva, aka Da Gold, (28), who specialised in buying mobile phones from robbers, cultists and pickpockets operating in Ogun and Lagos states, has confessed that he buys over 30 stolen phones a week.
After almost three months of relentless hunt by the decoy team of the Lagos State Rapid Response Squad (RRS), the suspected godfather of stolen phones also admitted that he made between N25,000 and N30,00 daily from buying and selling stolen phones.
His arrest followed a robbery incident around Ifako-Ijaiye, where mobile phones, laptops and other valuables were carted away at gunpoint.
Da Gold was said to have been on the run after police began a crackdown on the robbery gangs supplying him mobile phones.
The suspect also confessed to have maintained links with three robbery gangs, who constantly supplied him with stolen phones and other valuables after their operations. He admitted that he sold the phones in Computer village, Ikeja and shipped some to Kwara, Osun and Oyo states to make tracking of the stolen phones difficult for security operatives to retrieve if investigated.