Ogaga Dickson, a Sapele-born leader of an armed robbery gang, who, along with his members killed a Divisional Police Officer in Delta State Police Command, has disclosed how he joined a gang of thieves before he upgraded his criminal activity to involve snatching of vehicles at gun point.

Dickson also spoke on the robbery operation that led to an encounter with the police, resulting in the killing of the DPO of Agbarho Division, CSP Hassan Jega, on October 14, 2024, saying his gang knew when the police officer fell during the gunfire exchange, but didn’t know he was a DPO.

However, operatives of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the Nigeria Police Force proved their mettle in intelligence gathering and tracking suspects as they arrested Dickson on November 1, 2024, less than three weeks after the killing of the DPO. Also apprehended was the buyer of the stolen and snatched vehicles, Chibike Umeh.

The suspected cop killer was among the suspects paraded on Monday, January 6, by the Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, to showcase the achievements of the police in cracking criminal gangs and arresting suspects.

Parading the suspect, the Force PRO disclosed that Dickson, aged 35, was the leader of a notorious armed robbery syndicate responsible for the death of the DPO, Agbarho Division in Delta, CSP Jega, who was killed during a fierce gun battle between a team of police officers, led by the deceased DPO, and the assailants.

ACP Adejobi said that the operatives had earlier stormed the gang’s hideout and engaged them in a fierce gun duel, leading to the neutralisation of four of the gang members.

He added that the police recovered one AK-47 rifle, one English pistol, one locally-made pistol, ammunition of various calibres and six exotic vehicles.

In an interview, Dickson narrated how he got into the crime world: “I was a welder before my friend, John Linus, introduced me to stealing cars from where they are parked. I met him in Sapele. I had money issues in my welding job because I joined a welder like me to work. My salary was reduced and I left. Before the issue, I had met John. We closed from work one day and I was with John when his car broke down. We helped him and we exchanged numbers. We became friends, and he would give me money whenever I called him for financial help.

“When I lost my welding job, I called John and told him to help me get another one. He invited me to come to Warri where he was domiciled. He asked whether I could drive and I replied in the affirmative. He said he wanted to give me car to deliver somewhere.

“The first time, John didn’t let me know it was a stolen vehicle. It was the second time that he opened up to me that he was using master key to open parked cars at night and steal them. I had no choice but to follow him because I had no job again then and I believed something good would come out of the operations.

“After about two months, I was provoked by the way John was spending the money he was making from sale of the stolen vehicles. I was thinking one would not be able to have anything in life if John continued to spend lavishly in clubs after sale of the vehicles. Before then, he had taught me how to use the master key. He had also introduced me to buyers of the stolen vehicles. So, I left him and started the robbery operation on my own.

“An Ijaw friend, Ebimoh, joined me. He was staying in Bayelsa State, but I knew him in Sapele. In November 2023, we started stealing parked cars in Sapele and Warri, like we did when I was with John. After some time, Ebimoh asked me whether the buyers would be interested in exotic vehicles. He pointed out that a master key could not be for such vehicles, and I told him that it meant we would need guns to snatch them from their owners. I agreed with his idea.

“After some days, Ebimoh left and returned at night with three guns–an AK-47 rifle, an English pistol and a locally-made pistol. He also brought three fully-loaded AK-47 magazines and 40 ‘seeds’ (bullets) for the pistols. That was how we started car snatching in January 2024.

How we carried out our first armed robbery operation

“It was in Abraka that we snatched the first car at 9pm. Our style was to check the number of people in the targeted vehicle. If they were more than two, we would not accost them, but if it was only the owner or he had a female friend, we would follow them to their destination.

“At Abraka, we snatched Lexus 350 Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) at gun point. The vehicle owner was with his girlfriend. We followed him in my Toyota Corolla car which I stole with master key. When he got to the gate of his house, we went to him before the gateman could open it. Immediately the vehicle owner saw us, he just came down with his girlfriend, raising his hands in submission when he saw our guns.

“We collected the vehicle key, his phone, and that of his girlfriend. I knew that he could demobilise the vehicle’s tracking device through his  phone. We left for Warri, and I searched the vehicle, found the tracker and demobilised it. I had learnt about removing tracking devices in vehicles, so I did it effortlessly. I also did it with cars stolen from where they were parked.

“I sold the Lexus 350 for N9 million to the person later arrested by the IRT. Ebimoh and I shared it equally after removing money for fuel and other expenses. After the operation, Ebimoh, who had prepared his papers, left Nigeria for Canada, so I went to get a friend, Gabriel, who also called one Samson that he knew to join us. In the second operation, we snatched a Mercedes Benz GLE SUV. The buyer paid N10 million.

“My last operation was in October 2024, and it landed me in trouble. We snatched one Toyota Hilux from the owner in Sapele and went to Agbarho in Warri. I was searching the vehicle to remove the tracker when Gabriel and Samson who were on guard sighted a police van. They quickly alerted me.

“As the police van approached us, Gabriel and Samson started shooting at them. I ran into the bush nearby. The police and my gang members had an exchange of gunfire, and my gang members’ bullet hit one of the police officers. At that time, we didn’t know it was the DPO. When the operatives noticed that one of them had been hit, they retreated. We quickly got inside the Hilux and drove off.

“We sold the Hilux for N10.5 million for another buyer, a woman. She knew we snatched it. I knew her to be a buyer of stolen vehicles. She was the one used to arrest me.

How I was arrested

“Before the last operation, I had been preparing to travel out to Canada. After snatching the Hilux, I relaxed from the armed robbery operation and my papers were almost ready. Before that time too, I had snatched one Lexus 330. I sold the Corolla I was using to someone in Bayelsa. The woman who bought the Hilux asked me to sell the Lexus for her. When my papers were complete to travel, I went to bury the guns used by my gang and went to Bayelsa, planning to take flight from there to Lagos State.

“I asked the person who wanted to collect the Lexus from me to meet me the following morning. Unknown to me, he was arrested with the Hilux, and the woman was also arrested. She called me and said she would come for the Lexus in Bayelsa. However, it was IRT operatives who came, and I was arrested.”

The buyer of the stolen and snatched vehicles, Umeh, who hails from Abia State and aged 39, also narrated his involvement thus: “I live in Enugu State. I was into jewelry sales. I started buying stolen vehicles two years ago. One of my customers, Kingsley, who was a military man, linked me with John Linus. I don’t know if he is still in the job. I told him that a friend needed a vehicle and the ones we were seeing were very expensive. That was when he told me that he had a friend who would sell for me at a cheap price. He opened up to me that the vehicles sold by John were being stolen through the use of master key.

“Kingsley was the one who got a man to register the vehicle and prepare the documents. When I spoke with John on the need for a Toyota Corolla car, he took me to Warri and sold the car for N1 million. I sold it to the person who needed it for N1.8 million and gave the soldier N200,000 as his share and N100,000 to get necessary documents. I took N500,000.

“That made me take up car sale business. At a time, John was arrested, I stopped buying. Last year, Dickson came to me and asked if needed a vehicle. I told him that I needed them. He started bringing Toyota Corolla cars to me once in a while, and I was buying them.

“When he brought an exotic vehicle, I noticed that it couldn’t have been removed with a master key from where it was parked, but I bought the first and second one. After that, I gave him a video call and I saw him carrying an AK-47 rifle while sitting on a chair; he was smoking. That was when I stopped buying from him. I had yet to sell the two vehicles I bought from him when I was arrested in Anambra.

“There was one Toyota Corolla he gave me and I took it to a painter. I was accosted by Anambra police who said I was selling stolen vehicles. I didn’t know Dickson had been arrested.”

Sunday Tribune gathered that Dickson’s other gang members, Gabriel and Samson, had also been arrested by the Delta Police Command.