“I love stealing Toyota cars” – Robbery suspect

A suspected 43-year-old serial car thief, Mr. Lukman Bello, who has been on Police wanted list since 2007 has been arrested by the policemen attached
to the Pedro Police station in Bariga area of Lagos state.

DailyPost gathered that luck ran out of the culprit, following a tip-off, which led to his arrest.

It was learnt that Lukman confessed that he loved stealing Toyota cars because the brand can be sold easily.

The police source stated that Lukman stole the cars from car marts with a master key.

The police added that they recovered seven fairly-used vehicles, popularly known as Tokunbo cars from the suspect. These include, five Toyota Camry cars, one Toyota Corolla car and a Nissan bus.

Lukman has since been charged to the Yaba Magistrate Court on a three-count charge of conspiracy, forgery and theft.

The statement by the police read, “This man is a serial car thief and had escaped being caught due to fake address he gives to buyers of the stolen cars. Policemen from the Federal Special Anti-robbery Squad, Adeniji Adele had been looking for him. Luck however ran out of him when two of his victims reported to the Pedro police station and we tracked the car to Port
Harcourt in Rivers State where we arrested his major buyer, one Oke John Wordi.”

It further read that, “We recovered four stolen cars from Oke and he confessed he got them from Alhaji Lukman Bello. Based on intelligence, we arrested Alhaji Lukman and recovered Toyota Camry cars and a Nissan Vanette bus from his
house at Ikotun area of the state. It was during interrogation that he told us he sold the Corolla in Lagos.”

Narrating his modus operandi, Lukman said that he went into car theft to provide for his family.

“I am a married man with two wives and four children. I used to be a refrigerator repairer, but the money I earned was not enough to cater for my family. I went into stealing cars when I saw how careless the car sellers are. I usually go for
Toyota cars because you can sell them fast and people ask for them. What I was doing was that I would monitor anywhere they are selling cars and when I saw that they have closed for the day, I will go to the spots where the cars are kept around 8pm- 10pm and use a master key to drive a car out of the mart. I could do that because I make use of (juju) charm.

“I have been doing this since 2007. I move about with fuel in a jerry can, so I do not have to stop at a filling station. I move about from 4am to 6am to avoid being caught. Oke John is a regular
receiver of my stolen cars. He comes from Port Harcourt to buy the cars. I have lost counts of the number of cars I stole. I was stealing cars because I needed money to train my children.

“I was duped and I had nothing, so I had to survive,” Lukman confessed.