KINGSLEY EBERE
The 29-year old Otedola bridge armed robbery kingpin, Tochukwu Innocent Nonso Ucheagwu, a.k.a Thuglife, has confessed that his girlfriend knew that he was an armed robber before she got pregnant and had a baby for him in Lagos State.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that the suspect, Nonso as he popularly known, also revealed that he is from Ugwuaniocha in Ogbaru LGA of Anambra State and his parents are still alive but they do not know that he was an armed robber for years as they thought he was doing business in Lagos.
“I attended Idekin Primary School in Anambra State, but I stopped at Primary 6 due to financial constraints. My father and mother are still alive, and we are five in my family. I am the first son. I have a 6-month-old child born by my Yoruba girlfriend, who knows that I am a robber” he said.
He confessed that his gang had robbed over 100 motorists under the Otedola bridge in the past two years and have made some money, which they shared among themselves but as their leader, he usually takes more than the other gang members.
On how she became an armed robber, Thuglife revealed:
“Some guys introduced me to Kurata in 2022. Before then, I was working on the streets, assisting car owners in parking their cars and collecting money. Initially, they didn’t disclose the nature of the business, but I soon realized it involved collecting mobile phones and cash from people when their vehicles break down. We didn’t use guns but cutlasses. After collecting the phones, we sold them. We targeted people at late nights”.
“We’ve robbed over 100 people, mainly targeting small cars, especially under Otedola Bridge in the past two years. Our operations start around 7pm after the Police RRS team under the bridge must have left the area. Although we’ve never killed anyone, we’ve only robbed them. I started in 2022, but we’ve never used guns. We sell the stolen phones in Kurata and use the money for lodging. We also have a ready buyer at the computer village in Ikeja.”
On how he became the leader of the gang, Thuglife stated: “I am now the leader of the gang. Before I joined the gang, their leader was another tough guy but he was later shot by the Police and he died. That’s why I took over as the leader. I usually take the lion share after we must have sold the phones and the cash we got from our victims on top of the bridge. For instance, if we realized N100, 000.00, as their leader, I would take N30, 000.00 while other members of the gang will share the rest”.
How I was arrested: ” We were under the bridge that night, around 10pm, as usual waiting for a victim when we saw a bus that broke down. Suddenly, some ladies came down from the bus and one of them whom I did not know was a Police officer, was fiddling with her phone. We then decided to strike. We took the pathway under the bridge and attacked them as they were all standing beside their vehicle. I shouted that they should surrender all their belongings and the woman who was with two phones surrendered them without resistance.
She struggled with me and I had to strike her with the cutlass I was armed with. That forced her to lie down flat on the ground and other ladies that were with her followed suit. I then forcefully snatched the phones from her and before she could stand up, we disappeared into the thick bush under the bridge and hid inside the tunnel”.
“While we were inside the tunnel, we heard sporadic shooting which lasted for some time. After that, we took another bush path and ended up at Fela’s Shrine. While at the shrine, we called our buyer at the Computer Village, who came and gave us N30, 000.00. We later moved to Akute, where we normally hide in hotels. We were enjoying ourselves in the hotel when Policemen arrested us.”
The suspect, ThugLife, is now regretting his action and wants the authority to give him a second chance as he claimed that he is now a repented armed robber.
The reign of Thuglife came to end following a sting operation embarked on by the female DPO of Alausa Division, CSP Tokunbo Abaniwonda, which led to his arrest alongside two of his gang members.
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