Police uncover mechanic workshop for stolen vehicles
The Lagos State police command says it has uncovered a mechanic workshop at the Ipakodo area of Ikorodu where it alleges stolen vehicles are refurbished before they are moved to other parts of the country for sale. The owner of the workshop, Opeyemi Ogundokun, 24, had been arrested and is being detained at the Command […]
The Lagos State police command says it has uncovered a mechanic workshop at the Ipakodo area of Ikorodu where it alleges stolen vehicles are refurbished before they are moved to other parts of the country for sale.
The owner of the workshop, Opeyemi Ogundokun, 24, had been arrested and is being detained at the Command Headquarters, Ikeja.
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgal, said Ogundokun’s arrest was sequel to a complaint of car theft which the command received from one Saheed Aminu on November 19, 2017.
Edgal said Aminu had complained that his green- coloured Toyota Camry car, registration number ER 468 KRD, was stolen from where it was parked in front of his rented apartment at No. 45, Awolowo Road, Ikorodu, Lagos.
Following the complaint and subsequent investigation, detectives from the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) in Ipakodo gathered intelligence that revealed the vehicle was allegedly parked in Ogundokun’s workshop.
He said, “Ogundokun made some startling revelations which led detectives to a town called Rigassa in Kaduna State. At Rigassa, two suspects – Qudus Abdulkareem, 42, and Abdulwaheed Abdulkareem, 28 – were arrested.
“Their job in the syndicate was to either steal cars from where they were parked or snatched them at gunpoint from their owners. The cars would then be refurbished at Oguntokun’s workshop before moving them to the north where they were sold.”
The Lagos State police boss further said that the duo led the detectives to Sehu Shittu, 42; Nurudeen Abdulrahman, 38; and Musiliu Abdulwahab, 40, whom he alleged were receivers of all cars stolen by the gang from Lagos.
He added that Aminu’s Toyota Camry car was recovered and identified by him. It had been handed over to its owner.
Edgal also said a duly signed search warrant was promptly executed at the Rigassa base of the suspects from February 24-28, 2018 and items recovered from there included 118 rounds of AK-47 ammunition, one English pistol, military camouflage, one hand grenade, one Nissan Venza registration number KRD 538 AZ, one Rav 4 registration number EKY 720 BS, a Honda CRV SUV registration number EKY 17 AR and many vehicle plate numbers the police Commissioner alleged were used as decoy when moving stolen vehicles from Lagos to other states.