From Femi Folaranmi,
Yenagoa
It has emerged that billionaire kidnapper, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, alias Evans, who was recently arrested by the police, shares something in common with an alleged car thief in Bayelsa
Like Evans, whose wife disclosed that he loved to read Psalm 23 each time he prayed with his family, the alleged car thief, Linus John Andrew, tattooed the popular psalm on his arm.
Andrew was a soldier until 2014, when he was accused with others of planning a mutiny at Maiduguri during the war against Boko Haram. He was subsequently transferred to 3 Battalion in Delta State from where he was later dismissed and he entered into the world of crime.
Linus specialises in the stealing of cars parked by the owners at roadside and selling them at give away prices to those unaware of his business. But he had not been lucky anytime he came to sell the cars in Bayelsa because the police would always arrest him.
On two occasions he was arrested by the Bayelsa State Police Command and sent to the Rivers State Police Command and Delta State Police Command respectively but somehow he always found his way out until June 17 when he stole another vehicle at Green Villa road and was arrested at Akenfa while trying to escape with the car.
Commissioner of Police, Bayelsa Command, Mr Asuquo Amba, while interacting with Sunday Sun confirmed that Andrew had been arrested on two previous occasions in Bayelsa before his latest arrest. He said the suspect had stolen a Toyota Camry car belonging to Mr Patrick Osain, the controller of environmental sanitation. When he got to Akenfa, he refused to stop at a checkpoint mounted by a police patrol team on stop-and-search exercise. He was chased and the Police discovered he stole the car and arrested him.
Andrew while narrating his story said he became a farmer after his dismissal from the army and blamed the devil for his involvement in crime. To demonstrate that he had regretted his actions, he told Sunday Sun that he was willing to sign an undertaking not to come to Bayelsa State to steal again.
His words: “I have stolen four cars. I used master car key, which I bought in Ghana to open cars where they were parked and then I would drive them away. I bought one master car key N50,000. The guy that sells the master keys is in Ghana but he is a Nigerian. The last one I bought was in May. The Police in Bayelsa have arrested me three times now. The first one was because of a Camry car I stole from Port Harcourt and arrested in Bayelsa State. I was sent to the Rivers Police Command but I was later released as the owner of the car was not willing to pursue any case. The second one was the Hilux I stole in Warri and I was arrested in Bayelsa again. This was followed by the Camry that I stole on Saturday, June 17, this year.
“After the second theft I was taken to the Magistrate Court in Warri and I was remanded in prison but the owner of the vehicle said he was not interested in a case and demanded that I should pay him N50, 000 which was the cost of the repairs of the car. I paid him and I was set free.
“I am very sorry for stealing a car again and I want to say it won’t happen again. I would sign an undertaking with the police that anytime they see me in Bayelsa again they should do anything they like to me. I won’t do it again. It is the devil that keeps pushing me. I have three friends that I do the business with.”
The owner of the Camry car, Osain, commended the police for staying awake to work and fight crime even when the citizens were sleeping peacefully in their houses. He said he did not know his car had been stolen until the police called him from Akenfa Police Station to inform him that they recovered a vehicle belonging to him.
“I came back from work on Friday June 16 and parked my car close to my house at Green Villa road. I did not come out again. The next day, Saturday, happened to be the day I usually relax at home. I was in the house relaxing when a policeman called me from Akenfa Police station to inform me that they recovered a vehicle belonging to me. It was then I rushed out and saw that my car was no longer there. I want to commend the police for doing a good job.”
Amba said that Andrew would be arraigned in court upon completion of the ongoing investigation, to ensure that he is permanently put out from committing crime again.