A former councilor in the Ekiti Local Government
Area of Kwara State, Samuel Opeyemi Adeojo, has been arrested by the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
It was learnt that he was fingered as the leader
of a car theft syndicate notorious for stealing vehicles from car dealers
through pretence as genuine buyers.
It was also learnt that until his arrest, the EFCC
had been on his trail after series of petitions against his gang criminal
activities were considered by the Commission’s zonal office in Ibadan.
No fewer than three cases of car theft were
established against the syndicate, with all the vehicles involved recovered and
kept in the Commission’s custody in Ibadan.
Investigations revealed that the gang deployed
similar pattern of tricks to steal vehicles from their victims while Adeojo
often pretend to be a medical doctor, adopting different names and different
institutions as his place of work to appear responsible and create false sense
of confidence to penetrate the victims.
One of the many cases reported involved a Toyota
Avensis wagon car in which Adeojo claimed to be one Dr. Gboyega Omojola of the
University College Hospital, Ibadan.
The case was reported to the EFCC Ibadan office on
March 23, 2019, by Tunde Adejuwon, an Ibadan-based car dealer.
According to the petitioner, “‘Dr. Omojola’ had
come in company of one Babatunde
Oluwatope Oni, his supposed driver, to his stand to negotiate for the
car and later agreed to pay N2million for it.
“After the
agreement, ‘Dr. Omojola’ issued a N2million Skye Bank Cheque ostensibly in
favour of the dealer and ordered his ‘driver’ to pay it into his Zenith Bank
account at Bodija, Ibadan. Oni later came with a copy of the Zenith Bank
deposit teller, depicting ‘payment’ of the agreed sum into the dealer’s
account.
“It was, however, later discovered that the payment
was not approved as the payer used a cloned cheque for the transaction.
Unfortunately, the decline payment (money) did not
come until after the gang had eloped with the vehicle.”
A similar scenario also played out in a petition by
one Mr. Amos Arole Oloja, also an Ibadan-based car dealer.
Oloja alleged that the duo drove to his car stand
in a Honda CRV to price a Toyota Sienna van and agreed to pay N2.2million for
the purchase of the vehicle.
This time, Adeojo claimed to be Dr. Odumodu also of
UCH in Ibadan, while Oni, his ‘driver’, gave his name as Kayode.
‘Dr. Odumodu’ issued a Standard Chartered Bank
cheque for the payment of the sum and directed his ‘driver’ to go with the
dealer to lodge the cheque into his account domiciled in First Bank at Iwo Road
branch.
Unfortunately, the cheque could not be confirmed as
the account rather carried the name Akinjide Sefiu Odusanya.
Adeojo, on hearing the news, pretended to be
surprised, and left with his Honda SUV with the promises to go and come back
with another cheque to offset the car cost with Oni left behind.
Though he (Oni) had pretended to be sick all the
while, he took the advantage of the time the dealer went to return a borrowed
battery to his colleague to strike. However, before the dealer’s return, Oni
made away with the negotiated vehicle.
The two were also linked with another car theft involving
a Toyota Matrix car somewhere in Iwo, Osun State.
Oni is currently in the Agodi facility of the
Nigeria Correctional Services in Ibadan following a court order when he was
recently arraigned on one of the incidents.
It was however learnt that Adeojo would soon be
charged to court as the Commission is holding him and others for conspiracy,
issuance of dud cheque and stealing.
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