End of road for syndicate that specialises in robbing, killing cab drivers in Delta, Edo

It is said that every day is for the thief but one day is for the owner of the house.

The above was the case in Delta and Edo States as a syndicate that specialised in snatching cabs from drivers and thereafter killed them, met their waterloo in a scrap yard at Warri, Delta State, recently.

The two-man gang made up of 33-year-old Junior Emmanuel and 28-year-old Julius Samuel, all males, have already confessed to the crimes as they were nabbed while trying to sell the latest cab they robbed to a scrap dealer.

The two notable incidents involving the suspects included the incident that took place at Osubi, near Warri, on December 15 and that of Benin on December 26 last year.

Bright Edafe, a superintendent of Police and the Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Delta State Command, in a statement made available to BusinessDay, stated:

“On the 15th of December 2024, a lady (name withheld) reported to Ekpan Police station that on same date, at about 2014hours, while she was standing at the front of ShopRite, two boys approached her and negotiated the sum of N50,000 and took her to one club.

“After the club, they invited a cab man, and the cab man took them to one bar at Osubi.

“They instructed the cab man to go to Aziza junction in Warri-Sapele Road. Upon getting there, to her surprise, one of the suspects brought out a rope from his pocket and used it to strangle the driver while in motion and she was beaten and asked to bend her face down.

“After killing the driver, they dragged the driver out and then abandoned the girl in the bush.

“On the 26th December, the same syndicate also attacked another cab driver in Benin but the cab driver escaped, abandoning the vehicle with them.

Consequently, on 2nd of January 2025, the syndicate brought the car stolen in Benin to scrap yard in Warri to sell, Edafe said.

“The scrap dealers who suspected, called the divisional police officer (DPO) Ekpan, who came and arrested them.

The duo have confessed to that they were serial car snatchers and were the ones who murdered the cab man at Osibi. The two vehicles have been recovered from them, the PPRO said.