A 43 -year – old man , Friday Ezi , has been arrested by the men of the Ogun State Police Command for allegedly stealing seven cars from the Redemption Camp on the Lagos -Ibadan Expressway.
The police have also apprehended a 27 – year -old motor spare parts dealer for allegedly buying the stolen cars and dismantling them .
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state , Abimbola Oyeyemi , disclosed these in a statement on Thursday .
Oyeyemi said Ezi , who lives at No . 5 Adesuah Iyamo Street , Benin City, Edo State , took the police to Onitsha , Anambra State , where Onyekachi Atama was arrested .
The PPRO stated , “The duo were arrested following a report by one Titilayo Otitodogbon , whose Toyota Camry car with number plate LND 636 , was stolen on February 1, 2020, by one of the suspects .
“Upon her report , the DPO , Redemption Camp , CSP Chris Amanyi , detailed his detectives to swing into action and bring the perpetrators to justice .
“The detectives embarked on full -scale forensic and technical investigation , which yielded a positive result when one Friday Ezi , who actually stole the car from the Redemption Camp , was traced to Edo State , where he was promptly arrested on March 10 , 2020.
“His arrest and eventual confessional statement led the operatives to Onitsha in Anambra State , where one Onyekachi Atama, who is his receiver and an accomplice, was also arrested on March 15 , 2020 .
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspects had stolen up to seven different cars from the Redemption Camp , but they confessed to have stolen only two cars on different occasions .
“Onyekachi Atama, who is a spare parts dealer at the Motor Parts Market in Onitsha , confessed that once the vehicles were brought to him by Friday Ezi , he used to balkanise them and sell such vehicles in parts. ”
The Ogun State Commissioner of Police , Kenneth Ebrimson , commended the investigative team for a job well done .
Ebrimson directed that the suspects be transferred to the anti -car theft section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for proper investigation and prosecution.
In a related development, the police in Niger State have arrested three suspected armed robbers in the Suleja Local Government Area of the state.
The suspects , Ashiru Usman , 28 , of Suleja ; Mohammed Yazid, 26 , of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja ; and Mahadi Nafiu , 35 , of the Zuba area of Abuja , allegedly specialised in snatching vehicles from their owners at gunpoint .
It was gathered that sometime in December 2019 , the gang snatched a Toyota Corolla LE at Lugbe , Abuja and a Volkswagen Golf car at Nasarawa State , which were sold for N 200 ,000 and N150 , 000 , respectively .
Nafiu told one of our correspondents that he had been involved in car theft for the past five years .
“I cannot give a good account of what I did with the money. How do I explain to my wife, who is not aware , that I am into armed robbery?” he queried .
The command ’s Public Relations Officer, Wasiu Abiodun , said the police personnel recovered from the suspects a pump action gun , one empty shell of cartridge , a knife , a pair of scissors and 40 wraps of Indian hemp .
He said they would be arraigned after investigation.
