Car snatcher uses pepper soup to bolt away with Uber taxi

The police have arrested a member of a car snatching syndicate, Isaiah Ojode, who allegedly bolted away with a Toyota Corolla belonging to an Uber driver in Lagos State. The suspect was said to have bolted away after holding down the Uber driver with a plate of pepper soup and a bottle of energy drink. […]

The police have arrested a member of a car snatching syndicate, Isaiah Ojode, who allegedly bolted away with a Toyota Corolla belonging to an Uber driver in Lagos State.

The suspect was said to have bolted away after holding down the Uber driver with a plate of pepper soup and a bottle of energy drink.

The Uber driver was said to have picked up the suspect from the NNPCL Filling Station in Maryland to Oshodi before he fled with the car.

It was learnt that the suspect took the Uber driver to a hotel in Oshodi where he bought pepper soup and a drink for him on the pretext that he was going somewhere to come back.

Lagos State police spokesman, Benjamin Hundeyin, who confirmed the arrest to our correspondent, explained that on July 5, 2024, at about 8pm, the DPO of Akinpelu received a report from an Uber driver that he carried a passenger from Maryland to Oshodi.

He said the driver reported that on getting to a hotel in Oshodi, the suspect bought him food, a plate of pepper soup and an energy drink.

He further said, “The driver claimed that while he was eating, the suspect pretended as if he was in need of a cotton bud to clean his ear. The driver claimed that he gave him his car key to use in place of a cotton bud. In the process, the suspect went downstairs with the car key from where he removed the car from where it was parked and drove away.

“Fortunately, a team of policemen on-stop-and-search duty on Bolade Street intercepted the suspect. During interrogation, he could not give a satisfactory account of how he got the vehicle.

“Consequently, he was arrested and taken to the police station where they met the owner who had arrived at the station to report the theft of his car.”