Mohammed Nafiu and his monkey
The police in
Lagos State have arrested a 27-year-old robbery suspect, Mohammed Nafiu, who
specialised in using monkeys and snakes to dispossess people of their money and
valuables.
One of the
monkeys was also arrested and is presently in police custody.
Nafiu told
the police that apart from the conventional tool (gun) used by most robbers,
the sight of a snake or monkey unsettles and scares people. He said he was able
to dispossess his victims of their valuables when confronted with these
animals, especially fully grown ones.
The Kano
State-born Nafiu, and his accomplice, Nura, who is still at large, said they
initiated this method of robbery operation some years ago.
“We trained
the animals to obey our instructions. On a single command, the animals attack
whoever we want to rob and we are able to take whatever valuable they have on
them, especially money,” Nafiu said.
Nafiu, who is
married with three children, was a farmer and native drug vendor until he came
to Lagos about 10 years ago.
“I learnt
there were many Hausa people in Lagos, so I decided to come with my monkey
which I had been using for monkey shows in Kano,” he said.
A police
source said on the day Nafiu was arrested, he and his accomplice had two
monkeys in their Nissan Primera and were trailing a man who had just come out
of a popular bank in Ogba area of the state. The man was said to be holding a
nylon bag containing money.
On sighting
their next victim, they quickly went after him, unleashed their two monkeys on
him and dispossessed him of N230,000 cash.
Nafiu said,
“When we attacked the man, he was overcome with fear, so we collected the money
from him. As we were about leaving, having realised what was happening, people
started throwing stones and several objects at us. Nobody could move near
because they were also afraid of the monkey. Only Nura could escape. When the
stoning became too severe, I could not escape and eventually, police came and
arrested me and my monkey.”
He said he
could have released the monkey to protect himself, but he was afraid that the
monkey would injure a lot of people. “I had to endure the attack because of
this. I felt safer in the hands of the police than being stoned to death right
there,” he added.
He explained
that while Nura was escaping with the money, the victim was chasing him, but
that in order to stop the man, he took part of the money and threw back the
remaining at him so he could get busy picking the few naira notes while he
escaped.
Nafiu
admitted that he had been using the monkey to rob for some years and that it
had injured a lot of people including himself. He showed scratches on his hands
which he said were from the animal’s teeth and nails.
“I have made
a lot of money using this strategy but this N230,000 was the highest amount I
ever got from a single operation. And now I regret what I have done. If I can
be set free, I won’t do such again,” the suspect said.
But a police
source pointed out that another person had reported to the police that the same
gang (Nafiu and Nura) once attacked him with a “big” snake and dispossessed him
of some money.
“Nafiu
admitted that they had two snakes and two baboons, which they used to scare and
harass their victims. One of the monkeys has been arrested and we are still
trailing the other suspect and the other animals,” the source said.
Culled: Punch
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