The Decoy team of Lagos Rapid Response Squad (RRS) last Wednesday arrested a notorious dealer in stolen phones from armed robbers, cultists and pickpockets operating in Ogun and Lagos State.
The phone dealer, Yusuph Da-Silva, 28, popularly called ‘Da-Gold’ in Computer Village, Ikeja and Ifako Ijaiye, had been on the run after police began a crackdown on the robbery gangs supplying him mobile phones.
The suspect allegedly had links with three-armed robbery gangs who constantly supplied him with stolen phones and other valuables after their operations.
He sold the phones in Computer Village Ikeja and shipped some to Kwara, Osun and Oyo States to make tracking of the stolen phones difficult for security operatives to retrieve if investigated.
He continued, “I deal in smart phones. I have been a phone technician in Computer Village, Ikeja, since 2012. When I realized that wasn’t yielding enough money, I developed links with network of boys on the streets that gave me steady supply of phones. I wipe or flash them before selling them. I don’t collect their SIMS.
“They bring them to me daily. I get up to six or seven smart phones from them on daily basis and I sell to my customers in Computer Village.
He added, “the sales from those phones fetched me between N25,000 to N30,000 daily. I don’t bother to ask them about how they get the phones because they have told me they were gotten through ‘Stop and Search’, (meaning they robbed their owners to get them).”
I am not a robber. Face to face, they would confirm to you. I bought the phones from them. I have never followed them to rob. What I do before is internet fraud before I started buying stolen phones from these guys.”
According to the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Bala Elkana, the suspect has been transferred to SARS for further investigations.
