The Delta State Police Command has smashed a syndicate which specialized in targeting cab drivers in the State.
The syndicate was busted after they hired a lady, dragged her along to rob and killed a cab driver, and then beat her black and blue.
Two suspects, Junior Emmanuel, 33 and Julius Samuel, 28, arrested for these crimes, were further alleged to have confessed, admitting to killing the cab driver and assaulting the lady.
The Police spokesman in the State, Bright Edafe, a Superintendent of Police, said that the suspects would be charged with serial car snatching and murder.
He explained that on the 15th of December 2024, a lady (name withheld) reported to Ekpan Police station that on the same date, at about 9:14 pm, while she was standing in front of ShopRite, two boys approached her and negotiated the sum of N50,000 and then took her to a club.
Edafe further said: “After the club, they invited a cab man, and the cab man took them to a bar at Osubi. They instructed the cab man to go to Aziza junction on 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.
“She was beaten and asked to bend face down. After killing the driver, they dragged the driver out and then abandoned the girl in the bush.
“On the 26th of 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 a scrap yard in Warri to sell. The scrap dealers who suspected it was stolen, called the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Ekpan who came and arrested them.
“The two suspects, Junior Emmanuel, 33 and Julius Samuel, 28, confessed that they were serial car snatchers and were the ones who murdered the cab man at Osubi on 15th December 2024. The two vehicles have been recovered from them.”
