Ikeja Computer Village: How traders thrive on sale of stolen phones, laptops

THE Computer Village in Ikeja has been described as Nigeria’s version of Silicon Valley. It is considered to be the largest Information and Communications Technology accessories market in Africa.

But while the market has succeeded over the years in meeting the needs of the people, many believe it is fast earning a reputation for being a ready market for stolen phones and allied products. Many stolen phones, some of whose owners were actually robbed at gun point within the city and its environs, it was gathered, have been traced to the Computer Village by security operatives investigating cases of stolen or missing phones.

For instance, one Mrs Olanireti, a teacher, once got robbed of her vehicle in Ondo, Ondo State, at gunpoint. Her daughter’s mobile phone was also stolen in the process. Although the scene of that incident is quite far from Lagos, the consensus, especially among sympathisers, was that the victims should have her gaze and ears to the ground around the Computer Village in Lagos for possible recovery. That is where those who steal such items usually find a ready market, they reasoned. Although the stolen items were later recovered within Ondo State, the impression expressed by the sympathisers is seen as a pointer to the notoriety the market has continued to earn over the years.

A senior police chief in Lagos State, speaking with Saturday Tribune under the condition of anonymity, called for a complete closure of the market. “If I had my way, I would advise the state governor to shut down that market completely. Almost all the London-used phones at the market were stolen phones,” he had said.

It was alleged that some dealers at the market encourage robbers and phone thieves by readily providing a market for such stolen items. Such dealers allegedly buy the stolen phones from the robbers at ridiculous prices and sell the products, now labelled “foreign-used”, at exorbitant rates.

Despite the constant raids by men from the Area F police command and different police formations in Lagos State, touts have continued to dominate the streets of Kodesoh Otigba, Simbiat Abiola Way, Francis Oremeji, Oshifila, Oshitelu and Bashiru Owen where they openly display phones, often referred to as tokunbo (foreign-used).

One day one Olamilekan will not forget in a hurry was when he was entangled in theatrical of some touts at the Computer Village, Ikeja, where he had gone to get a used phone. Although he escaped the hoodlums’ web, the experience of that day has continued to give him a bad picture of the market. Olamilekan, an undergraduate of the University of Lagos, had left school with a friend to buy a used phone at the popular market when he bumped into a band of boys hawking just a used phone.

“They were about four in number. They took us to a nearby street and we started haggling on how much the phone was worth. The phone was with me during the negotiation. We had formed a circle. We were on that when four men, who later turned out to be policemen, came. I quickly attempted to return the phone to one of the boys but, to my surprise, they all rejected the phone. At that time, I knew I was in deep trouble because I could not explain how I got the phone. I quickly ran into a shop nearby and kept the phone under a shelf and returned to where the policemen and the boys were standing.

“The police arrested all of us after they could not find the phone with me. We were on our way to the police station when one of the boys whispered to me, ‘settle them’. I spoke with one of the policemen and then gave them from the money I had budgeted for the phone. They promptly released me and my friend and threatened to take the touts to the police station but when they walked about fifteen metres, they also ‘negotiated’ with the boys and released them as well.

“I thought the whole experience had ended and was trying to return to school before those boys came back to me and asked for the phone. We all went to where I dropped the phone and we could not find it. They insisted that I pay for the phone. They threatened to attack me. We were there for more than two hours as different people tried to intervene but the boys insisted on getting paid for the phone. The policemen who arrested us earlier came back and met us where we were arguing on the lost phone. They chastised the boys and called them thieves. It was from the police that I learnt that the phone was a stolen one and not foreign used as claimed by the touts. The policemen guarded me to the bus stop and ensured that I joined a bus before leaving. The experience of that single day has continued to fill me with bad memory of the Computer Village,” Olamilekan added.

Ace comedian, Bright Okpocha, popularly known as Basketmouth, was attacked last year by a gang of armed robbers who invaded his Lekki home and made away with valuables. The humour merchant and members of his family were unhurt in the attack.

The police in the state, then under the leadership of Mr Fatai Owoseni, arrested some of the hoodlums and recovered some of the stolen items, including two of the comedian’s mobile phones. Saturday Tribune gathered that the police had tracked the phones to the Computer Village where the robbers had sold them. Unknown to the dealer at the Computer Village, the phones, which had trackers implanted in them, were stolen from a celebrity.

A woman (names withheld) had gone to an eatery inside Ikeja Mall when her phone suddenly disappeared. She called the attention of the attendants at the eatery to her plight. They all joined in the search for the phone and could not find it.

“The woman reported the case at a nearby police station but since most of the divisions don’t have tracking devices, the woman was later advised to report the case with us. We were able to track the phone to a young man, who was promptly arrested by our men,” a police source at one of the police formations in the state said. “We arrested three persons and from our investigations, we discovered that one of the workers at the eatery stole the phone and sold it to a dealer at the Computer Village. The dealer in turn sold the phone as ‘London-used’ to another buyer. We have arrested many dealers at the Computer Village after tracking some stolen phones to buyers who told us that they bought the phones from the market. Almost all these buyers had receipts of the phone dealers at the market.

Men from the Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State Police command had some weeks back arrested one 47-year-old Ikemefuna who specialised in going to venues of conferences and seminars to steal phones, laptops and other similar items. The RRS operatives had, through a CCTV footage at the venue of a seminar and the tracker on one of the stolen phones, trailed the suspect to the Ejigbo area where he was arrested.

Ikemefuna initially denied the allegation by the policemen but confessed after he was made to watch the CCTV footage of his escapades. He equally confessed to the investigators that he had a ready buyer at the Computer Village where the buyer, one Ibraheem, was arrested. The Ikeja Computer Village dealer, however, insisted that he was not aware that the phones and laptops were stolen by the seller. Ibraheem also claimed that the buyer had lied to him that he got the stolen items from South Africa.

Saturday Tribune gathered that phone dealers at the Computer Village make huge profits from stolen phones. For example, some buy phones worth N150,000 for less than N60,000 from armed robbers and their accomplices.

The police, through the Lagos State Special Task Force on the Environment and Other related Offences had, earlier in the year, arrested a gang of armed robbers who operated around the Oshodi area. Four members of the gang also confessed to being armed robbers and that they dispossessed passers-by of their phones and other valuables. The suspects, in their confessional statement to the police, said the majority of their loots were sold at the Ikeja Computer Village, while they also had the option of selling such stolen goods at Obalende.

We’re sanitising the place —Police

Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, told Saturday Tribune that a lot of security efforts had gone into sanitising the Village.

“The Computer Village is a place that has been in existence for long. But one thing I can tell you is that many people have been arrested in the past in relation to cases of stolen items taken to the Village.

“Also, there is a union in place and it has helped in cleaning up the Village. The Computer Village is not what it used to be; its reputation has improved,” the commissioner said.

We are doing something about the ugly situation –CAPDAN president

But as far as the president of Computer and Allied Products Association of Nigeria (CAPDAN), Hammed Ojikutu, is concerned, it takes two to tango. Ojikutu, in a chat with Saturday Tribune on the issue, argued that while it is criminal for anybody to sell stolen items within the premises of the Village, he believed those who buy such items should also be treated as criminals.

“It is true that some of those stolen items find their way into this place but I think the focus should not be on the sellers of such items only but the buyers, too. I think anybody that buys such items is also a criminal. Otherwise how would you explain a situation where an item with a market value of N150,000 is being bought for less than N50,000, with the buyer still claiming ignorance? For me, if there are no buyers, there is no way there would be sellers,” he argued.

While advising customers coming into the market to always patronise shops and not hawkers within the Village and also demand for receipts for goods purchased, Ojikutu noted that patronising hawkers without any known address usually has consequences for the buyer. He described the present situation in the market as an improvement over the previous years. This, he attributed to the increasing sophistication of mobile phone users in the country and the association’s efforts at ensuring sanity in the market.

“Besides our own little efforts at ensuring that such things are not encouraged here, customers are getting smarter. There is a device that can be used to render a stolen phone useless, while some have tracking devices to monitor  such phones, even when stolen. That is why those who engage in this nefarious act should have a rethink,” he stated.

He added that the association had in the past few months been engaging dealers and market leaders on the need to ensure sanity in the market. “We tell them to be wary of the activities of those who sell stolen items and the grave implications of engaging in such an act,” he added.