Police nab 6 youths who attract men with gay dating app to rob them
Detectives attached to the Nasarawa State Police Command have arrested six youths who specialise in using gay dating apps to lure victims into their traps and then rob them of their valuables and money.
The six suspects who were arrested in connection with the alleged act are Sunday Michael, Luka Musa, Joy Sunday, Elijah Ishaya, Agada Sandra, and Abdulrahman Tijani. The suspects, after their arrest, confessed to having lured eight victims via the same mode of operation and have made N1 million from their victims at different times.
In their confessional statement, the leader of the gang, Sunday Michael, an indigene of Benue State, said he was searching for information online when he came across the gay dating apps and decided to make use of it.
Michael who stated that it was poverty that pushed him into it said he activated the app and started using it to lure gay men across the country to Nasarawa State to rob them and collect their valuables.
According to him, he had robbed and stolen valuables of several gay men who have visited him in Nasarawa State and then threatened to report such a person to the police, but for fear of being arrested, they will then plead with him and his gang to allow them to find their way. Adding that however, the one that led to their arrest went to the police, despite the threat, to report the incident after they released him.
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“We were surprised when policemen came to pick us up. The gay man saw me and we started chatting when in the process he proposed to me and told me he loved me and wanted us to be lovers. I told him I lived in Nasarawa State and he said he lived in Imo State and promised to come down to my place in Nasarawa State. I thought he was joking until I received his phone call that he was already in Keffi, the state capital and I sent him the address on where to hook up.
“Immediately he saw me he was very happy and we went straight to my house where we were to sleep. But before his arrival, I had planned with my friends already on what to do. While in the room, those of my friends I planned with started harassing him and then brought out their phones to record his nakedness and also threatened to upload the video on all social media platforms.
“That was how he started begging me not to post the video and he promised to give us money, that he has N200,000 in his account. He gave us his Automated Teller Machine (ATM) and the pin and we withdrew the whole money and I shared the money with my gang members.
“This is the second time I have done something like that. In our first operation, we made N100,000 and the victim came from Kubwa in Abuja to Nasarawa State. I am appealing for forgiveness and I promise never to return to the act again if am pardoned by the police. I was arrested with my girlfriend, Joy, at the hotel where we went to lodge, but she knew nothing about the incident, I only called her to come join me at the hotel before we were arrested. I regret my action, the police should please forgive me and I promised never to go back to the crime again.”
Another suspect, Abdulrahman Tijani, an auto mechanic who hails from Kogi State said the operation was his first outing with the gang.
“When Michael told me he was expecting a visitor, I thought he was joking, not until I saw the gay man. I joined others to hold him down when we wanted to strip him naked in order to video him, it was when he was begging us that he said he had an ATM card with him, before he gave it to us we had already recorded him.
“It was after Michael came back from where he went to withdraw the money that we released him, not knowing he was going to report us to the police. When the gay man was begging that we should not strip him naked, I also begged my colleagues on his behalf to allow him to go, but they never listened to him, because of the money they wanted from him. My share of the money was N12,000 and we gave the gay man N4,000 for his transport back to Imo State.
“I am sorry for my action and promise never to go back to the act anymore, the Police should forgive me.”
It was gathered that aside from the money collected from the victim, the suspects also collected his wristwatch from him before he was set free.
Meanwhile, one of the suspects, Luka Musa who claimed to be a Tailor said it was his friend Michael who told him about the deal a day before the arrival of the victim because he knew nothing about it initially.
He said he was in his shop when Michael called him that the gay man had arrived and he left what he was doing to check on him in order to video the gay man so as to rob him, that was why he went to join Michael and others.
“It was in Abdulrahman and Mishak’s house that we hosted the gay man, Mishak and T boy are both at large now, immediately I enter the apartment we confronted him straight, he is a gay man? And we threatened to report him to one of our uncle who is a policeman and also threatened to video him and post it online, but we later stripped him naked to video him in order to threaten him, it was in the process he brought out his ATM card and started begging us that he had money so as to leave him.”
The Nasarawa State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Ramhan Nansel, said the state’s Commissioner of Police, Adesina Soyemi while reacting to the incident, urged members of the public to be wary of their safety before pleasure.
The CP explained that on July 31, 2022, at about 7:20 am, while acting on credible information, policemen attached to Masaka Division in a sting operation, raided the hideout of some notorious criminals and arrested the six suspects.
He said: “Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspects criminally conspired among themselves and utilise a popular gay dating app where they arrange dates with unsuspecting members of the public from different parts of the country, luring them to their hideout, hold them hostage and dispossess them of their belongings, while threatening them with dangerous weapons.
“Furthermore, the victims would be assaulted and forced to reveal their Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) card Identification Number, including their bank accounts number. After which their banks will be emptied of their money.
“Consequently, the sum of N150,000, which they collected from one of their victims who came in from Imo State on July 30, was recovered from the suspects as an exhibit.”
Soyemi has since ordered the transfer of the case to the State Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Department (SCIID), Lafia for in-depth investigation. He, however, said that upon conclusion, the suspects would be charged to court for prosecution. He further urged members of the public to be mindful of the kind of friends they make on social media, stressing that safety was of paramount importance before any other thing.
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