Two members of a notorious syndicate, popularly known as ‘one chance’, which specialises in picking unsuspecting passengers and taking their victims to unknown destinations where they are defrauded, have been arrested and paraded by the Police in Abia State.

The suspects, who were almost lynched by an irate mob when their nefarious activities were uncovered, were among other suspected criminals paraded by the Abia State Police Command Tuesday in Umuahia.

Abia State Commissioner of Police, Leye Oyebade, said they were intercepted by eagle-eyed members of the public while attempting to pick some unsuspecting victims at Owerri Road by Kaduna Street in the heart of Umuahia.

The suspects, Lucky Nwokocha, from Ntigha in Isiala Ngwa North Local Government Area of the state and Mrs. Rekiyat Sunday who said she hails from Ibila in Ankpa, Kogi State according to Oyebade, operated with a Volkswagen Vento Saloon car with registration number, Rivers PBT 422 DT, which was promptly recovered.

Later in an interview, Nwokocha, 23, confessed to the crime but said he was introduced into the nefarious trade by those who defrauded him of N300,000 he had earmarked for the burial of his late father when he had innocently boarded a taxi operated by the syndicate. He said they later encouraged him to join them.

Also, Mrs. Sunday, a mother of eight, said she joined the syndicate in January after the death of her late husband, a soldier.

She said Nwokocha who she identified as her class mate at Government College, Umuahia, that ‘converted’ her into the group.

In order to defraud their victims, she explained that she would pose as a passenger running away with a bagful of money belonging to her master, and looking for a native doctor that would neutralise the efficacy of charms allegedly placed on the money by her master.

She said greedy and gullible persons usually fall for the pranks even though they also cast spell on them.

Update news