'I drug victims with tea, biscuits before stealing their cars– Notorious car thief says

49-YEAR-old notorious car thief that specialized in drugging his victims before stealing their vehicles within Abuja, Benue and Kogi States, has been arrested by operatives of the Inspector- General of Police Special Intelligence Response team.

Eight vehicles suspected to have been stolen from his victims have been recovered from the suspect who is currently being detained at the Force Headquarters, Abuja. The suspect confessed that he drugged his victims with tea and biscuit before robbing their cars. 

Police sources disclosed that a victim, whose vehicle was robbed by the suspect in Abuja, gave him out and he was trailed to his home town in Otukpo, Benue State, where he was discovered to own a car stand. 

According to the suspect; “I am Garuba Ibrahim, 49. I am from Otukpo area of Benue State. I am married with four children. I deal on fairly used shoes and I buy my shoes from Jos, Plateau State but in the year 2013, I went into selling cars. I used to go to Cotonou through Birini-Kebbi, but when my father died, I was asked to come home. When I got there, the elders told me that my father said I should stay at home before he died. Before that, there was an arraignment I had with my sister that if I should stay at home, they will pay me N100, 000 monthly. I stayed until 2015, the money stopped coming. Then, I was into farming of kola nut, maize and I harvested it. I made over N330, 000. I gave my family N50, 000, and I took the rest to Birini Kebbi where I went into car business. Gains from car business: As soon as I went into the business, I started making huge profits from it. I was into buying and selling of vehicles. 

Then one day, I took a vehicle from Makurdi to Gboko and offered the driver food. I bought Semovita and soup and drugged it without the driver’s knowledge. We then drove to the secretariat and he started eating. As soon as he tasted the food, he started feeling dizzy. I brought his floor mat and he slept on it. Before then, I asked him to give me his car key to scratch my ear which he willingly obliged. I then drove the car, a Golf 3 station wagon, down to Otukpo and gave it to a man they call Chiama. I sold it to him for N500, 000. Fourteen days later, I travelled to Abuja and took a cab to Sheraton hotel. When we got there, I paid him and asked that he should wait for me. I went to the swimming pool, sat down there and when I got out, I asked him to take me to another hotel. 

When we got there, I paid for a room and we went inside. Then we decided to get something to eat. After that, he bought bread and I bought some other items. When we went back to the hotel and we were about eating, I bought a packet of biscuit and cleverly drugged it. I also bought a bottle of beer and offered him one of the drugged slices of biscuit and he ate it. Thirty minutes later, he slept off. I took the key to the car, a Toyota Picnic and drove off. I took the car to Kano and sold it to one Abdulraman for N600, 000. I found two phones in the car and gave one to my mother in-law and a sister to my wife. The man who taught me the trick of drugging my victim is Ibrahim Dogo from Sokoto state.”