'I can't stop stealing phones after two imprisonments' – Serial phone robber

In an account that details a new method employed by robbers who target online phone traders in Lagos, a 35-year-old suspect, Bright Funsho, has revealed how he made a huge sum of money by simply placing an order for expensive phones and robbing traders who deliver his orders.

In  the latest scheme, one which landed him in police net for the third time, Funsho, who is now in custody of the Inspector-General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team, created an identity ‘Honourable Wale Elegushi of the Lagos State House of Assembly’ which sounded important enough for people to fall for it.

His latest victim, a mobile phone dealer and Managing Director of GSM Planet, Uzo Mbonu, said he got a call from an online market that a ‘Honourable Wale Elegushi’ had ordered for three Samsung Galaxy S7 dual sim phones, valued at N720,000 and gave the delivery point as the Ministry of Environment, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos.

“I sent my dispatch man by the name Friday Samuel. On getting to the address at Aluasa around 2pm that day, he met the said Honourable who took him to a side, pointed a gun in his face and took the phones from him and fled.”

Having been robbed three different times in similar fashion this year alone, Mbonu said he had lost all hope of ever getting any positive response from the police when he reported the case.

“The first time I was robbed the same way was on January 9 in Ojo.  The robbers placed an order and told us to come to an address in Ojo. When we got there, they attacked us and robbed us of phones worth over N200,000 and also our POS machine. The second was in my office on March 28, 2016, around 5pm. The robbers came as customers and after we even entertained them, they pointed guns at us and took all the phones in our office worth N450,000 and fled.”

The suspect, an indigene of Kaba, Kogi State, said the operation required little effort. He said he simply placed an order on the online store using his fake identity.

He said, “I am a graduate of Computer Science from the University of Ilorin.  I was jobless in 2013 when I started engaging in the crime. In 2014, I called a company on an online shopping mall and introduced myself as Mr. O. R. Wale. I told them that I needed five Apple iPhone 6+ and four Huawei phones.  I gave the delivery point as the airport in Ikeja.   The cost of the phones was N1.360m.

“When the dispatch woman brought the phones, I met her at the entrance of the airport tarmac and took her to the back. I asked her to go and bring a bag where I would put the money.  I watched as she walked out of the back and I followed her from behind. She went to the car that brought her and I hid as she went back into the airport tarmac. I then went to the driver of the car and pointed a gun at him, telling him to give me all the nine phones. I collected them and ran away.”

Funsho said he sold the phones to Yemi Akanni, who is also in custody now, for N930,000.

The suspect said nine days after he stole the phones, he got a call from someone who proposed to do business with him. Unknown to him, it was the police setting him up.

He said, “I went to the location where I was told to come to. But I was arrested there and later charged to court. I was made to refund the money I made from the sale of the phones.  I spent nine months in prison.

“When I was released, I did another robbery at the Samsung office at Ogudu. I called them and introduced myself as an employee of the Ikeja General Hospital. I ordered for three phones which I directed should be delivered at the hospital.

“When the delivery man arrived, I went to meet him at the gate and took him to the reception. I took the phones from him and told him to wait behind so I could go and bring the money. But I went through the back door and escaped.”

Funsho said even though the phones were N95,000  each, he sold them for N12,000 each at the Computer Village.

According to him, he was at a bus stop at Fadeyi along the Ikorodu Road two weeks later when the delivery man saw him. When the man raised the alarm, he was caught as he tried to flee. 

“He started to shout ‘thief, thief’ when he saw me. People around that area caught me and I was arrested, charged to court. I was later remanded in prison for three months. I used all the money to settle my court cases. Now, I have not even relaxed after the last two times in prison and I have been caught again.”

Akanni, 31, who is the phone trader, whom Funsho sold his stolen phones to, denied knowing they were stolen when he was apprehended by the police. His arrest came after the police tracked down Funsho.

'I can't stop stealing phones after two imprisonments' – Serial phone robber