The death of motorcycles as means of transport in some parts of Delta state was quickened when it became the choice means of transportation for armed robbers and other criminals who were using them for robbery and other nefarious crimes.
It was against this background that the decision of then Governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan to ban okada, as it is popularly called, was greeted with cheers from across the state. The support the ban received was not just due to numerous accidents associated with the two-legged means of transportation, but because of the relief from hoodlums and petty robbers.
However, three years, its successor the tricycle popularly called keke, has again become an easy and convenience transportation facility for criminals in the university town of Abraka, Warri, Udu, Uvwie and other parts of the state.
Our investigation, which is corroborated by police sources, revealed that kidnappers and their cohorts are taking advantage of tricycle for their nefarious activities. Gangs that specialize in attacking customers coming out of banks, car snatching syndicates and others use keke, obviously because it is common place and because it is easy to ‘disappear’ with.
Scores of stolen keke have been recovered by the police across the state and angry mob have set several on fire when robbers abandon them as they did along Sokoh Estate Road in Effurun recently.
Several months ago, Mr Ewoma Okpokpor was robbed, by hoodlums who rode in a keke. The maroon Toyota Corolla car they snatched from him, GSM handsets and cash are yet to be found.
In Ovwian, Udu Local Government Area of the state, a 55-year-old staff of the Unified Payment Services (names withheld), was last Wednesday abducted. The male victim was holidaying in the area, when he was abducted by hoodlums at a bad spot along the Orhumworun road area.
“The criminals were probably working in league with some keke riders,” a police source at the Quick Response Squad in the state told our reporter.
“What we have found out is that the criminal keke operators mingle with genuine ones at strategic junctions, usually around Mofor Junction and the DSC Steel Camp area, while their accomplices and colleagues lay ambush at any of the bad spots along the road.
“When they see a flashy car, they would relay the details via GSM phones to the team ahead, giving them information like the type of car, the number of occupants etc. So, before the victim reaches the bad spots they are already waiting to pounce. If the sentries sight a police team they also brief their colleagues using terms like kpokpo or ikelebe
Our source said that was ostensibly how the kidnappers of the UPS staff abducted around the notorious Celestial Church area on the DSC Expressway, Orhunwhorun.
The hoodlums made away with his Black Toyota Highlander SUV, GSM phones, cash and four ATM cards, with which they withdrew N200,000 after forcing him to divulge the PINs. “Before they went to the bank, they reached an agreement with him that if any of the PIN was found to be incorrect, they would come back and finish him off.”
A QRS team, led by an Assistant Superintendent of Police simply identified as Omonigho, rescued him from the bush, several hours later. He told the police that he was taken to the hoodlums hideout with two tricycles conveying other members of the gang in tow.
At the hideout, he was chained and locked with padlock, while the hoodlums retired to a well-laid bed complete with mosquito net and other conveniences.
His car was yet to be found at the time of this report on Tuesday.
Police Public Relations Officer in the State command, DSP Celestina Kalu, who confirmed the report, vowed that the police would track hoodlums terrorizing the state and bring them to their knees.
Meanwhile, it was learnt that the Police Command is also having sleepless nights over the sources of locally manufactured firearms that are being used by hoodlums to terrorise residents of the state.
It was gathered that the Quick Response Squad, which is special unit based in in Warri, is investigating the source of locally made double- and single-barrel guns, after a rash of arrest and confiscation of such weapons.
A reliable source in the top echelon of the command told our reporter that the squad is worried that despite spirited efforts and feats recorded in the past months, more of the firearms are still being seized from the criminals, who mostly operated in keke.
Our source said: “We are very worried because over the past months and weeks we have arrested several criminals with locally manufactured cut-to-size barrel guns yet more Awka (local) guns keep surfacing in Warri and environs.
“As much as we are working round-the-clock under the supervision of the OC (Officer in Charge) of QRS and the Area Commander, we have not been able to locate the source of these weapons. We know that once we get the source of these weapons crime rate will reduce in the state,” the usually reliable source added.
It was further gathered that more worrying for the police is that none of about 100 suspects so far arrested across the state with the weapons have been able to provide useful information about the source.
“When we investigate them, they always say they got it from someone who also got it from another person and the line is endless, yet we know that the manufacturers are either in the state or nearby.
“We are appealing to members of the public to provide useful information that can enable the police track down and cut off the source of these illegal weapons, because not until we are able to get to the source, our efforts would be futile.”
