Lagos motorists grapple with new robbery trend as master-key robbers break loose
By Sesan Olufowobi, Published: Saturday, 1 May 2010

Mr. Segun Adeyanju fell on hard times after he lost his job in 2009. Naturally, he heaved a sigh of relief when one of his friends granted him a loan in the sum of N2 million to start a business.

But Adeyanju’s joy could only endure for a brief moment. He got the money all right, but he did not spend it.

On his way from the bank where he had gone to collect the said sum, he decided to look in on his in-laws at Oko Oba, Agege, but that turned out the worst decision of his life.

The visit was brief. But as he came out of the house, he sighted two young men on a motorcycle beside his car, desperately riding away after they had burgled his car and and taken the money on which his life depended as it were.

Surprisingly, the the young men took the money without vandalising his car. Unknown to him, they had used a master key to open the door to his car.

Adeyanju was not alone in this unfortuate incident. Another victim of master key robbery, Kolade Martins, did not only lose the sum of N100, 000 he kept in his car, the intruders also made away with his new Toyota Camry.

The arrest, on Wednesday, of two friends, Obodoechi Ike and Daniel Ogwu, is evidence that the use of master keys to burgle cars or make away with them is a phenomenon that car owners have to grapple with, particularly in Lagos State.

The police command in the state claimed they had made it difficult for armed robbers to operate. But the new trend is an indication that one needs to take maximum care of one‘s property. Armed with a master key, all a robber needs is proper timing, swift action, confidence and luck.

Although police spokesman in the state, Frank Mba, told our correspondent that cases of master key theft are not common in Lagos State, a senior police officer at the command headquarters said the development had assumed alarming proportion already, adding that state police management team was taking measures to halt the phenomenon.

The police officer who pleaded anonymity because he is not the spokesperson of the police in the state, said, ”With the acquisition of many APC vehicles it is no longer possible to rob banks in Lagos. Robbing with guns also attract the attention of policemen on patrol. So, what these hoodlums do now is to snatch money from people as they step out of banks and escape on okada most of the time.

“If that fails, they trail their victim, and if they are lucky that he pulls up somewhere, the robbers will open the car with the master key. Of course, passers by would not suspect that they are not the owners of the vehicle. But we are working to see that the practice stops.”

Corroborating the officer’s assessment, Mba said, ”Crime is dynamic, and since it has become impossible to rob banks and snatch cars in Lagos State, we expect that the criminals will find a quick way of robbing and getting away. Crime is such that when you block one road, criminals find another. But we assure Lagosians that we are on top of the situation.”

According to Mba, Obodoechi and Ogwu broke into a black Honda car by opening it with a master key and quickly escaping in their own car with N1 million belonging to a civil servant, Mr. Bashiru Aderemi.

Although the suspects observed all the principles of robbing with a master key, luck ran out on them. Noticing that his car alarm had sounded, Aderemi got up from the mosque, where he was praying, and headed for his car. From a distance, he saw Ogwu taking out a brief case containing money from his car. He shouted, but the other Muslim faithful were not able to arrest the two men who quickly escaped in their own car. The collective shout of ‘thief! thief!’ was, however, loud enough to attract the attention of policemen from the Alausa police division. The policemen went after the men and arrested them.

Ogwu, however, said it was Aderemi himself that drew their attention. He said, ”There are various way we select the people we rob. At times we go into banks’ premises, and once we see a prospective victim, we trail him.

”At other times, we scout around large gatherings like churches or venues of social events.

”In the case of Aderemi, the mosque did not have a high fence, so we could see the inside of the car park. I saw him (Aderemi) checking and rechecking the car doors, so we realised that he would not have done so if there was nothing big in the car.”

Corroborating Ogwu, Obodoechi said they always watched the demeanour of a car owner as he gets out of his car, ”Some of them (motorists) keep looking back at the car as they walk away. That is a sign that there is money or something important in the car.

”If we are in a bank premises, we know potential victims by going near them as they come out of the bank. You will see them panicking or shaking. We would just pass by them and later trail them,” he said.

In the case of Aderemi, the suspects said he kept checking his car’s doors and looking back as if he had just bought the car.

Ogwu, who said he was ready to quit the ‘business’ he had been doing for about a year revealed that buggling cars with the aid of master keys was a thriving crime in Lagos. ”Sometimes, I get between N60, 000 and N80, 000 after the operation,” he said, adding that he had opened over 30 cars this year alone.

Obodoechi however revealed the way the people connected to master key robbery used to conduct their operation. ”On that day, Daniel (Ogwu) called me and two others and said there was business. We decided to meet at the mosque. Most of us in this business don‘t know each other’s addresses or personal details for security reasons,” he said, adding that he got into the gang because his export business failed.

The young men, however, have a word of advice for those who wish to avoid falling victims to master key robbers in the future.

”Calmness is the key. You must be calm whether you are coming out of the bank or you are parking. If we see that you are calm, we won‘t look your way,” Ogwu said.

Obodoechi added that changing the way you keep your things could also spell trouble. ”Let us say that you normally put your things in the booth, but because you have money you now put it inside the car, there is now way you will feel comfortable. And why checking all the doors, when you have locked it from inside? You have to relax,” he said.

Mba also believes that car owners can avoid falling victims to master key robbers by going the extra mile to secure their cars. ”There is car alarm system; there is also steering lock, pedal lock, fuel cut and tracking system,” he said.

And since most of the stealing from cars occur in public places, Mba said, ”Churches, mosques, shopping malls and other public places could get security guards to dislodge unwanted visitors. ”These public places should also ensure that their car parks are well lighted at night. It won‘t harm them if they can install CCTV. Don‘t be surprised if these criminals deny their involvement in court. But with CCTV, they cannot escape punishment,” he said.