Everyone in my family is an armed robber – Suspect

A robbery kingpin, who is currently undergoing interrogation at the Lagos State Police Command’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad, has not only confessed to perpetrating various robbery escapades, but he has also declared that the propensity to commit such crime runs in his family.

The suspect, identified as Okechukwu Ibeabuchi, told our correspondent that he learnt the art of robbery early in life, which enabled him to quickly attain the status of a kingpin.

Ibeabuchi said, “Armed robbery runs in my lineage. I was born into it and everybody in my family is an armed robber.

My gradual elevation to the position of a kingpin was never an accident. I started stealing at a tender age, when my seniors would send me to go and steal cigarette from our neighbour’s shop. This I would do with stealth and precision.”

Light complexioned Ibeabuchi, who hails from Anambra State, explained further that he only learnt the rudiments of stealing while growing up in his home state before he moved to Benin City where he became a don in the crime.

He added, “I was still in my formative years when my parents moved me down to Benin, where I learnt further tricks. You see, I was running errand for people who taught me how to be street-smart. They even acknowledged the fact that I was a very sharp lad with analytical mind.

I just regret everything, may be if I had not been born into the family of armed robbers, my story would have been different today.

At times, they would speak to me in coded language, which I understood very well because I was not a stranger to those things I learnt in Anambra.

“My relationship with different groups of rough and tough guys shaped me into what I finally became in life. I knew I would surely make it because I always considered myself a leader. I knew that to make it in life, you needed to first and foremost conquer fear.

So, I am fearless. I am not afraid of anything; but I never knew it would one day come to this.” While responding to a question from our correspondent, Ibeabuchi said, “I am a self-made man. This is evident in my chain of achievements. I may not have a university education, but I know better than many professors. For instance, I have travelled far and wide. I have houses in many African countries. I have a house in Dubai. I have slept with the best of women. I have lodged in many hotels considered expensive by others.”

On the number of people he had killed in the course of armed robbery, Ibeabuchi, who claimed to be in his early 30s, declared, “On that, I may not have a ready-made answer. All I can tell you with absolute certainty is that I never killed any police officer. I love policemen.

I never killed one, even though, they ran after us most of the time.

“I was trailed by the police from SARS Lagos to Benin, which was my base. I did not know that one of the guys we worked together with had been caught. It was that guy that betrayed me. I was just cooling off, trying to relax, when the police swooped on me. The rest is history and here I am today. I now know that whatever has a beginning must surely have an end. I just regret everything. May be if I had not been born into the family of armed robbers, my story would have been different today. Well, everything depends on fate.”