Drama, Car Wash Attendant Steals Customer’s Posh Car, Leads Police To Gang Members, Recovery Of 7 Vehicles, 16 Engines, 8 Gearboxes, Others
The spokesperson for the state police command, DSP Bright Edafe, who disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, said the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of GRA Division, Asaba, received a distress call about the incident.
The police in Delta State, southeast Nigeria have arrested a 22-year-old car wash attendant identified as Emmanuel Chidera, for selling a Mercedes Benz GLK 350 given to him to wash.
The spokesperson for the state police command, DSP Bright Edafe, who disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, said the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of GRA Division, Asaba, received a distress call about the incident.
He said that on May 30, a man took his Mercedes Benz GLK 350 to a car wash along Mariam Babangida Way for washing but when he returned for the car, he was told that one of the attendants had stolen the car and his whereabouts were unknown.
The DPO, CSP Spencer Tyozua, deployed detectives to embark on an intelligence-led investigation which led to the arrest of the suspect on Wednesday around the magistrate court area in Asaba.
According to Edafe, during the course of interrogation, the suspect confessed that he took the car to Benin City in Edo state where he intended to sell it.
He added that the vehicle had been recovered and that efforts to arrest his accomplices were ongoing.
Similarly, the police spokesperson further stated that following a series of reported cases of vehicles removed from parking areas in Asaba, Warri, Ughelli, and environs, the state police commissioner, CP Wale Abass, directed Area commanders and DPOs to nip the trend in the bud and warned that if the trend continued, officers concerned would be severely sanctioned.
Sequel to the CP’s directive, the DPO of Ughelli Division closely supervised by the Area commander of Ughelli, ACP Adebayo Ademola, on Thursday, arrested two suspects identified as Phillip Ekugbe and Onome Erikefe, both of Ekpan community in the Effurun area of the state.
The suspects reportedly specialised in carjacking in Warri and its environs and took the stolen vehicles to Ughelli where they disassembled and sold the vehicle parts.
Edafe stated that upon their arrest, 74 vehicle tyres, 16 vehicle engines, eight gearboxes, 15 motor batteries, two motorcycle engines and seven suspected stolen vehicles were recovered from them.
The vehicles include one Toyota Corolla with reg. no. AJ 638 EFR, Toyota Carina with reg. no. WW 748 SL, Toyota Corolla with reg. no. DU 60 LSR, Toyota Corolla with reg. no. WWR 799 AE, Toyota Corolla with reg. no. KSF 758 DC and one unregistered Nissan car.
The suspects are in custody and the investigation is ongoing.
In another development, Edafe stated that as a follow-up on the investigation of suspected kidnappers neutralised in Abraka where one AK-47 rifle was recovered, the DPO of Abraka Division again led operatives to comb the surrounding bushes where some of the suspects escaped into.
The team, upon a thorough search of the bush, recovered two AK-47 magazines and 52 rounds of AK-47 ammunition.
The police spokesperson added that the investigation also revealed that one of the neutralised suspects posed as an internet fraudster popularly known as ‘Yahoo boy’ and had been using the proceeds got from kidnapping to build a 15-room duplex around Orogun in the Ughelli North Local Government Area of the state.
He said that efforts to arrest the other members of the gang were still ongoing.
