Kidnap
kingpin, Chukwudubem Onwuamadike, a.k.a Evans, who was arrested last
Saturday by police for coordinating several high-profile kidnappings,
armed robbery and murder within Lagos, Edo, Abia, Enugu and Anambra
States, has revealed that his father’s decision to disown him was why he
took to crime.
Read below also Evan’s chilling story of how he
joined a robbery gang and their first attack was on a luxury bus filled
with travellers at night. How he moved on to deadlier robbery gangs and
eventually graduated into kidnapping.
Evans,
who received millions of dollars as ransom from his victims during his
reign as an ingenious kidnapper in the country, told Vanguard
exclusively that he was forced to drop out of school while in Junior
Secondary School Class 2, when his father, Steven Onwuamadike, drove his
mother, Chinwe, away and got married to another woman.
Evans
explained that his father, who is a businessman, asked him to join
another business man, a spare parts dealer, also in Nnewi, who he served
for five years without settlement because the man later accused him of
stealing.
This development, according to him, embarrassed his father so much that he drove him out of his house.
Evans
who is a native of Akamili, Umudim Quarters, Nnewi, Anambra State,
stated that his father’s action affected him deeply and he was forced to
move into his mother’s house. He said his mother accepted him and she
also raised money for him which he used in travelling to Lagos.
While
in Lagos, Evans disclosed that he started selling diesel to luxury
buses and truck drivers at Alafia Bus-stop along Lagos-Badagry
Expressway. He explained that, while he was selling diesel, he slept in a
bus garage and that was where he joined a robbery gang.
First
robbery gang, Vanguard gathered, that Evans’ first robbery gang
specialized in attacking luxury buses plying the East – West Road, at
night.
Police sources explained that Evans was involved in several
highway robberies from which he raised enough money with which he
travelled to South Africa.
A former anti-robbery police operative
attached to Orile Police Station, who pleaded anonymity, disclosed that
Evans and his gang specialized in robbing traders in luxury buses
travelling at night on the road.
The ex-policeman added that Evans
who had several informants around motor parks in Alafia, Maza-Maza and
Jibowu areas of Lagos State, used to obtain first hand information on
the movements of traders coming to Lagos State with huge amounts of
money from informants working at major luxury buses parks across the
country.
The source disclosed that Evans and his gang would attack
these buses on the highway and dispossess the passengers of their cash
and other valuables, explaining that some of his gang members were
arrested and when the police were closing in on him, he fled the country
to return a few years later and relocated to the East.
It was
gathered that while in the East, he formed another dangerous gang that
started robbing and kidnapping wealthy business men especially in the
commercial city of Onitsha in Anambra State and Aba in Abia State.
When
his notoriety soared in criminal circles, other robbery gangs started
seeking him. That was how he became the financier of arms and armourer
for the fearless and deadly armed robbery kingpin in the east from Nkanu
in Enugu State, popularly called Ngwu Ekekere Omu, who robbed banks all
over the country until he was killed in Anambra by a military patrol
team that blocked a road on a tip-off from members of the Special
anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, in Awka.
Afterwards, he carried out a
bloody robbery operation at the university town of Nsukka, Enugu State,
where he killed among others, a Divisional Police Officer and later shot
the SARS Commander in Enugu in the knee while they were pursuing him
along Adani/Otuocha road.
During that operation, he also burnt
down Nsukka Police Station after raiding one of the banks and as he was
escaping from the scene with his gang, they threw bundles of crisp Naira
notes in different denominations to the cheering crowd and commercial
motorcyclists, including school children who were on their way home.
Ngwu
Ekere Omu died in 2009 and most of his gang members were hunted down
and eliminated by members of the Special anti-Robbery Squad in Enugu and
Anambra states.
Police sources said Evans participated actively
in that deadly operation and later, after some of their gang members
including their leader were killed, he again escaped abroad.
On
his return, according to sources, he veered into full time kidnapping
with Lagos as his base. He used to pose as a spare parts dealer from
South Africa with proceeds of his crime.
Reports also alleged that
he participated in some operations with another notorious killer,
Vampire, who was later killed by the Police after plotting his escape
from Owerri court in Imo State, while on trial.
Investigations
revealed that Evans later linked up with another notorious kidnapper
called Henry Hunchman in Anambra State and they coordinated several
kidnappings. They were later chased out of Anambra State and they fled
to Edo State.
Vanguard reports Evans told them during a chat that
he teamed up with one of his friends, Ehis, in Edo state and they
started kidnapping. He disclosed that Ehis introduced him to some of his
friends known as Benin Papa, Odionose, Okey and Igbo Papa and they
coordinated several kidnappings.
He further explained that he was
forced to invite his friend, Hunchman, who he said had heavy arms and
ammunition to join them in Edo State. According to him,
‘’When
Hunchman came in, we carried out two big kidnappings that yielded N150
million, but Hunchman who owned the arms and ammunition, ran away with
the money.’’
Escapades during MD Abubakar’s era as IGP Vanguard
investigation also revealed further that Evans’ activities became so
troubling that the then Inspector -General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar,
deployed one of his key operatives, Patrick Ejedawe, who was the
Commander of Mopol 2 Squadron Command, Lagos, to Edo State, to track him
and his members down.
It was learned that Ejedawe, now an
Assistant Commissioner of Police, mopped up all members of the gang
except Evans, Hunch-man and Sudo, who fled to Ghana. Sources disclosed
that betrayals in the gang aided the police in mopping up the gang
members, leading to the death of members like Benin Papa, Odionosa,
Okey, Igbo Papa and many others who were killed by the Police in gun
battles.
Vanguard’s source further disclosed that Evans, Hunch-man
and Sudo eventually came back to Nigeria and were based in Lagos, when
Ejedawe was redeployed from Edo State by a new Inspector-General of
Police.
At that point, Evans and his gang terrorised residents of
Festac Town, Amuwo Odofin, Ojo and Ajao Estate areas of Lagos State
before he was arrested.
Source – Vanguard.