The flamboyant lifestyle of 37-year-old Chinedu Anedu has landed him in trouble. Anedu, who was recently deported from South Africa, confessed that he went into crime to keep up with his flamboyant lifestyle.
According to police source, Chinedu Anaedu and his gang member, Onyeka Nnamani, were arrested by the operatives of the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT), for allegedly defrauding an Abuja-based businessman.
The suspects, who were alleged to be members of a notorious syndicate, based in Lagos, were alleged to have deceived their latest victim, one Chief Obiekwe, with a fake business transaction, worth N12million. The victim was alleged to have parted with N200,000 before he realised that he had fallen into the trap of fraudsters.
The source revealed that before the two suspects were arrested, the victim had told the police that a driver he hired from Lagos called severally, demanding for money to settle security personnel who impounded his vehicle.
He said he was made to believe that the driver was sending a fridge packed with money from his business partner for a transaction in Abuja. But surprisingly, hours later, he received a distress call from the driver alleging that Custom officials had impounded his car and would only release the car if a certain amount of money was paid. He complied and allegedly sent N200,000 to the driver to settle the matter.
However, the victim was said to have suspected a foul play when the driver called him again to bring more money to settle NDLEA officials, who he said had confiscated the fridge containing the sum of N12million meant for a business transaction.
In a petition to the Inspector General of Police, Chief Obiekwe narrated his suspicion and IGP directed IRT operatives to investigate the matter.
In the course of investigation, it was revealed that all the calls, said to be from Lokoja, Kogi State, actually emanated from Ejigbo in Lagos State. The police later tracked down and arrested the two suspects at their hideout in Lagos.
Sounding repentant, Chinedu, who pretended to be a driver, claimed that his duty was to call their targets, pretending that he was arrested. He said: “I was based in South Africa before they arrested me for selling hard drugs. I spent seven years in prison and was finally deported in 2014. With the little money that I have saved, I got married and decided to turn a new leaf.
“It was not easy because of the flamboyant lifestyle while I was in South Africa. I had no choice, but to find a way to survive. I went to Alaba International market, and started to hustle. It was not easy at all and I needed to survive at all cost. While in South Africa, I also learnt one or two things about internet fraud, but at Alaba market, their style is completely different. We were doing low key fraud and our targets were greedy people. We would sell an idea that is fraudulent and our target who is also greedy will buy into it”.
Speaking on the incident that landed him in trouble, Chinedu claimed that it was Okechukwu, an apprentice at Alaba market, that brought the job. “Chief normally comes to the market to buy goods. So, it was easy to get his number. What we did was to call him and convinced him that one of the apprentices in Alaba wanted to buy land in Abuja. He was told that the apprentice had wrecked his master’s business and was looking for where to invest his money.
“Okechukwu, who made the call, sold the idea to Chief that if the money, which is about N12million, gets to him, he should look for land that could cost about N1million and buy for him. He agreed with Okechukwu that the N11million would be split between them. He was convinced that the apprentice was a fool and does not know the cost of land in Abuja.
“It was Onyeka who played the role of the apprentice. He called Chief and acted as if he does not know anything about it. He was the one who suggested that he would love to send cash to Chief ,who is based in Abuja. To further confuse Chief, he told him that he would want to pay cash so that no one can trace the money, which he had been saving at home, to him. If he is not greedy he would not jump at it. He had already accepted to defraud the apprentice. So, it was very easy to convince him to part with some money.”
Continuing, he said: “We agreed that I should pack the money inside a new fridge and send it to him. I posed as the driver and called to inform him that I was on my way to Abuja. He kept calling to find out my location. Five hours later, I called and told him that Customs stopped me at Lokoja and were threatening to take the car to their office. He requested to speak with the Custom officer and I gave the phone to one of our members. He told him that he will confiscate the car until I produce custom documents. He offered to pay N200, 000 to release the car, which he paid that very day.
“I assured him that I am free and on my way to Abuja. After about an hour, I called him again that NDLEA officials had arrested me and they were insisting that they will open the fridge. At this point, Okechukwu also called him pretending to be panicking over my supposed arrest. He was told to bring N300, 000 so that NDLEA will not open the fridge. Initially, he agreed, but when he was wasting time, we knew that something had gone wrong and switched off all the phones that we used to contact him. All these calls were made from our location at Ejigbo.”
Begging for mercy, Chinedu promised to refund his own share from the loot, which he said was N20, 000. “My only share was N20, 000. I was shocked when police traced and arrested me. I am sorry. But the truth is that Chief was preparing himself to steal N11million from the apprentice if the money had arrived as he thought.”
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