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He said: “I went to South Africa from Lagos, I went around 2006 or 2007 but you can check my passport. While in South Africa, I was into drug business. I wanted to move the drugs to Nigeria but I couldn’t get the channel and distribution network needed. Before then, I was selling fairly used spare parts in Ladipo, Mushin, Lagos and it was from there that I linked up with the gang with which I went for my first robbery operation although I did not do any robbery there.
Notorious billionaire kidnap kingpin was christened Chukwumeme Onwuamadike but chose the pseudonym Evans, which later relegated his real name to the background. Although he claimed that he adopted the name while in secondary school, the alias later became a ploy to cover his tracks as a notorious kidnapper, who also had a dangerous voyage into the deadly world of armed robbery and drug trafficking. Evans was as sly as a fox and as a dangerous as the foamy race of ocean surge
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Yet, he patronised a native doctor who assured him that just like a mirage, the police could only arrest him in their imagination. These unholy combinations, perhaps, explain why he evaded arrest for five years before he met his Waterloo last week Saturday at his Magodo mansion in Lagos in an operation led by the super cop, ACP Abba Kyari, and his daring Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team.
Since then, he has remained a topic of discussion and his infamous acts have continued to intrigue Nigerians. The 36-year-old native of Nnewi, Anambra State, was paraded with much fanfare by the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Jimoh Moshood, at the Lagos State Police Headquarters, Ikeja last Sunday.
According to police sources, he was declared wanted by the police as far back as 2013 following some high profile kidnappings that fetched him and members of his gang billions of Naira collected from the families of victims in form of ransom. Sitting with our correspondent for a chat lasting about five hours, Evans looked forlorn. His countenance fell just like Cain’s when God rejected his sacrifice.
His drug business in South Africa
“I was working as an apprentice with my father before he moved me onto a rich trader who later accused me of stealing his money. When my father asked, I denied stealing the money but he did not believe me. He did not just send me away in the end but said he had disowned me.
That was the beginning of living on my own and fending for myself,” he said. For Evans, the path of crime opened up around 2006 and 2007 when he relocated to South Africa upon losing N20million worth of goods which he said were seized by men of the Nigeria Customs Service. Kidnapping, however, was to appeal to him three years later.
I was just selling fairly used spare parts but I made contacts with gang members later on but I was able to raise enough money from selling parts there, some of which I used to relocate to SA.” Evans, who dropped out of secondary school, said he had always dreamt of making money, hence the decision to venture into business when he arrived in Lagos as a boy.
A combination of the desire to make more money and face less stress coupled with a situation that almost turned fatal led to his return to Nigeria from the rainbow nation.
“I came back the same year so I spent only one year there. I had to come back because of an issue, the issue was that most South Africans like to collect drugs without paying money so I wanted to drag the drug from one man and he brought out his gun and shot me.
Following the shooting incident, I was treated in Cape Town at the Life Claremont Hospital and once I was well again, I came back to Nigeria not long after. It was on my own; not that I was deported.” With the South Africa chapter closed, he relocated to Nigeria and made a vow that he would make it in in his country of birth either by crook of by hooks. “When I came back into the country, there were two boys: Kingsley and Ehis.
I had been in touch with both of them all along and we met and they introduced me to robbery. I met Kingsley when he came back from Libya while I met Ehis in Lagos, somewhere around Ikorodu.
“I really don’t remember how I linked up with Ehis; all I know is that it was through a phone call. To proceed with the robbery plan, I hooked up with Ehis and his boys and the first job Ehis and I did regarding kidnapping was in Edo State,” he said. How three bullion van robberies fetched his gang N400million Speaking about his robbery escapades, most of which were mainly targeted at bullion vans, Evans continued:
“I was introduced to it by a guy named ‘Too Much Money.’ The first bullion van job was in Port Harcourt, somewhere around Aba Road. We made about N70 million from the job but I don’t remember the particular year this happened.
“Usually, the process for a bullion job is always long; a lot of planning goes into it. We usually seize a truck and use it to jam the bullion van and it would lose control and then we use tear gas on the policemen and force the driver to open the back of the van to gain access to the money. So, we hijacked a truck and used the same process I just explained. We usually have sources who would keep us informed about how the cash is being moved.
Those that were working for ‘Too Much Money’ told us all we needed to know to hijack the bullion van and about 26 of us went for the operation. I was in charge of driving one of the three vehicles we used for the job and I got just around N1.5 million from the job. “After the Port Harcourt bullion van job, I met a man named ND and it took sometime before we went for another job.
Before that, we were still talking on the phone but I think it was after two or three weeks after the end of the Port Harcourt business.” It was observed that he saw all the crimes he committed as business ventures.
He never for once used the term, “robbery operation” for any of the three bullion van heists, neither did he refer to any of his kidnap-for-ransom as crime. Rather, he chose the euphemism ‘jobs’ for his kidnapping operations. As it happened in the first operations, he said he was a driver in the second bullion van operation in Enugu.
“I was in Enugu, lodged in a hotel before the job and which was paid for by ND. The job took place on the outskirt of Enugu and we made use of jazz to beat security. We made over N200miilion from the job but the unfortunate part of it was that ND didn’t give us any money. After the operation, he said all of us should go but he gave some money to his own gang members but he also gave me small money, about N300, 000. When he promised to kill the over 20 other members who took part in the job, we all left him.”
Upon hooking up with another leader of a robbery gang named Obele in the Edo-Delta state axis, Evans said he participated in yet another bullion van robbery which fetched them over N100 million. “The next bullion van job was in Umuahia in Abia State and it was led by Obele.
This happened in 2010 and we went to Old Umuahia Road to carry out the operation. There was someone inside the bank that was monitoring the van for us to know when to strike. Like other times, many of us took part in the operation, we took three vehicles and I was given about N7 million from that job.” A simple addition of the total money Evans and the gangs he joined for the three bullion van robberies puts it at around N400million.
From the N7.5 million or so he got from the third bullion van robbery, he bought a car, Honda Car popularly known as ‘Baby Boy’ and also opened a shop at ASPAMDA at the Trade Fair Complex. Trading in fuel and car accessories, he said he invested N6.2 million into the shop.
He also rented a flat at Marwa Road in Satellite Town and brought his wife to Lagos but his life out of crime was not going to last. Shifting a bit to the side that has to do with his personal life, Evans said he was married already by the time he went for the bullion van robberies.
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