A 35-year-old man, Tokunbo Aderibigbe, who was arrested by the Oluyole Security Surveillance Team in Ibadan, Oyo State, after his gang used fraudulent means to obtain N250,000 from a female passenger, Mrs Yetunde Alabi, has said that he was compelled to join the gang after he was swindled.

It was learnt that Aderibigbe had boarded an Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State-bound car, with the intention of disembarking at Ijebu-Awa, when she fell into the hands of the fraudsters.

Unknown to her, the driver who picked her and another passenger in the vehicle belonged to the same gang.

It was learnt that after she was picked with the man she perceived to be a passenger, a discussion came up on a carton of dollars in the car boot, which required a certain amount of Nigerian currency to be used to cleanse it off the charms placed on it. The three people were tasked to contribute N250,000 each to be able to wash and purify the US dollars.

The gang member, who posed as a passenger, Aderibigbe, reportedly showed interest in giving his part of the needed cash so that he would get N100 million as his reward after the cleansing.

The woman, who had no money, was convinced to look for it, and reportedly got down at her destination, borrowed the money, and returned to Ibadan to give it to the gang.

Elated by the easy way their victim was swayed, the gang, not yet satisfied, demanded another N210,000 from her, telling her that the amount contributed was not enough to cleanse the charm placed on the dollars.

However, the woman, after it dawned on her that she had been conned, promised to pay the agree fee. This, it was further gathered, led to the arrest of the suspect while other gang members fled.

The OSST Commandant, Olusegun Idowu, confirmed the arrest, adding that when the gang leader was interrogated, he confessed to his involvement in the unlawful act, but said that those who had been their victims were greedy ones who desired to get money from a source unknown to them.

In an interview, the arrested suspect said, ?I?m from Akure, Ondo State, but my mother is from Ibadan. I live at Oranyan. I joined the gang after falling victim. I brought oranges to Ibadan for sale at Oje market in Ibadan. I was well known there and popularly called Baba Ekiti. I was duped on October 12 at Boluwaji area.

?I was told by the driver and the passengers while in a commercial cab I boarded that I would get money through the dollars they had in their car boot. However, they said a charm had been placed on the money and there was need to go to an Alfa to destroy the charm. They asked me to follow them. They collected the N590,000 I had with me as proceeds of sale. When I came to the realisation that I had been conned, they asked me to be patient, saying that I would get my money back if I joined them in the business.

?I came back to them on October 25. They wore suspicious looks, believing I brought a security personnel. Later, they accepted me as one of them. I started living in Ibadan as a squatter with someone. I could not go back to Akure because I could not pay those I bought the oranges from.?

Speaking on the female victim, Aderibigbe, who told the Sunday Tribune that he adopted Momoh as his name during operations, said: ?She boarded our taxi and one of us said he was carrying some dollars laced with charm, and that we needed to go and buy the chemical that would destroy the charm. He told us that after cleansing it, those of us who contributed money for it would share it. We were three in number?Quadri, Abu and I. My fake name is Momoh. This is my third operation since joining the gang.?

On how the gang members were usually let off the hook if arrested, Aderibigbe said that when he joined others, the leader assured him that he would always be released through bail if caught.

?I was paid N10,000 as my share of the N250,000 we got from the victim. We usually operated at daytime. This is my second time of joining the fraudsters? operation. I was given N3,000 out of N22,000 we made the first time I was with them.

?We were three in the vehicle for the operation. Our victim was on her way to Ijebu Ode. We collected N250,000 from her and asked her to bring more money. We were going to meet her when I was apprehended,? he said.

The victim, Mrs Alabi, aged 39, narrated her experience: ?I?m a trader selling wears and shoes. I came from Awa Ijebu to buy goods at Ogunpa market in Ibadan. On my way back, I stood beside the road where we used to board passing vehicles when a car stopped and the driver beckoned at those of us waiting. He said he was going to Ijebu Ode. A man went in and I also did, unknown to me that it was a planned work by the fraudsters.

?On our way, I became confused when they started discussing about money. They asked me to bring N250,000 to destroy the charm placed on the money. When we got to my destination, I went to my residence to get the money from a Point of Sale (PoS) machine operator and gave it to them. I had initially given them N10,000. I returned to Boluwaji area in Ibadan and a transfer of N240,000 was made to an account number they gave through PoS machine. They asked me to return home, promising to call me later.

?When I got back home, I couldn?t tell anyone. I realised that I had fallen victim to fraudsters. I could not sleep. I started praying for God?s intervention. In the morning, I was called by one of them that they needed another N250,000 to work on the charm. My mind asked me to tell him that I only had N210,000. I cut papers in the shape of Nigerian currency, put them in a black cellophane bag, and thought of handing it over to them as real cash.

?On my way to Ibadan, I decided to call one of my church members and asked him to follow me. I also called my younger brother in Ibadan and explained everything to him. The fraudsters were calling me.

?When I got to Boluwaji, I saw their vehicle ahead. I called but they did not answer the phone. I believe that they became suspicious and zoomed off. The suspect was arrested, and when we called one of those who absconded, he asked us to treat the arrested man gently, saying that they would look for my money and repay it.

However, in a telephone conversation with OSST Commandant, the gang leader said that it was the woman?s greed that made her fall victim. He said that she wanted to get N100 million that she was promised without knowing its source.

The man, who was in hiding, said: ?In the work we are doing, it is the greedy ones that fall victims. It?s because of the woman?s greed. She wanted to share in dollars that she didn?t know how we got them. We just told her someone brought in the money and wanted to share it with one of us, but the person laced it with charm. I told her that we needed to buy chemical to wash the dollars and it?s expensive. I told her that her share would be N100 million if she joined us in cleansing the dollars. There were three of us in our vehicle, making her the fourth person to benefit from the money. We divided the cost of the chemical among ourselves and told each person to look for over N200,000.

?She said she would go and look for her own contribution. She went to Ijebu and returned with her money. After giving us N250,000, we told her the following day that she should look for over N200,000 more, as the charm had not been totally destroyed.

?She went to look for money when we proposed the idea of making money from the dollars to her. If she was not greedy, she would have told us that she was not interested and would have left us. When things like this happen, we usually get money from other victims to pay back.?

He promised to look for money from other would-be victims and repay the money taken from the woman. The gang leader, who simply gave his name as Alfa, also told the commandant to call him after the case must have been settled, promising to tip him with some money also.

It was learnt that the case was transferred to Sanyo Division in Oyo State Police Command for investigation. (Sunday Tribune)

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