Three suspected notorious 419 fraudsters also known as “one chance drivers” are now in  police custody for defrauding a woman of N49,100.

The suspects, who specialise in duping unsuspecting passengers and travellers who boarded their vehicles to the state, also have a teenager girl as facilitator of their acts.

The suspect, who operate with a Mazda 323 vehicle with plate number Rivers DD 568 PHC were on Friday paraded by the police at the Operation Famuo Tangbei camp, a special police squad aimed at combating robbery and other heinous crimes in the state.

Bayelsa State Commissioner of Police, Musa Aliyu, who said the suspects had confessed to the crime, told journalist that they carried their woman victim with her loads, including mattress and empty jerry cans, from Igbogene Junction.

They asked her to hold the mattress and the cans, making it possible for them to distract her before collecting her money from her bag.

The victim, Mrs. Mercy Yuopele, a school teacher in Kaiama, Kolokuma Opokuma Local Government Area of the state, was later pushed out of the car before they drove off.

Her cry of agony attracted passersby and motorcyclists, who later chased the suspects, caught them and handed them over to the police on searching them, the police recovered one locally made pistol.

The commissioner commended men of the command for their quick intervention and effort at working tirelessly to ensure that all manners of crimes were curbed.

“The problem of increasing wave of 419 and car snatching is giving the command a sleepless night, he said, saying that given the combatant readiness of his officers and men, those in the act would be caught and made to face the law.

The police boss appealed to residents of the city to always report suspected criminals to the police for possible arrest and prosecution.

He warned that any of his men who collaborates with criminals will face dismissal, saying that those who also indulge in corrupt practices, especially extortion of money from the public, will also face similar fate when caught.

Narrating her ordeal, Mrs. Yuopele said, the fraudsters carried her from Igbogene junction and disposed her of her N49,100 before driving away.

The school teacher confirmed that the alerted members of the public who later chased and apprehended them before they could make away with her money and property.

Ndubuisi Emmanuel said to be the leader of the suspects.

While speaking to journalist, the leader of the suspects, Ndubuisi Emmanuel did not deny the allegation against him, but claimed that he took to crimes because of hardship to bring up five children.

He, however, denied ownership of the gun found inside the vehicle, just as he appealed to the police to have mercy on him as first offender, and for the fact that his wife had just put to bed two days earlier.