A driver, Solomon Okon, who absconded with his boss’ Honda CRV Sport
Utility Vehicle in Ibadan, has been arrested in Akwa Ibom State.
The
Commissioner of Police, Oyo State Command, Abiodun Odude, made this
known while parading suspects arrested in connection with various crimes
by men of the command.
Odude said, “Having successfully stolen
the car, the suspect (Okon) escaped with it to Akwa Ibom State, where it
was sold to a criminal receiver.
“Consequent upon the report
made to the police by the owner of the stolen car, operatives of the
F-SARS, Oyo State Police Command, immediately commenced investigation,
which led to the arrest of the suspect in his criminal hideout in Ikot
Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State. Upon his arrest, the suspect led the operatives
to a hotel in the same town, where the car was recovered.”
According
to the police boss, discreet findings revealed that some sensitive
materials of one of the leading political parties in the country were
found in the SUV when it was recovered.
The owner of the vehicle,
Mrs Olufunke Obaba, explained in an interview that Okon was employed as
her driver on September 18, 2018, and by October 15, he drove her to
the University College Hospital, Ibadan, for a check-up.
Obaba
stated, “We got there around 8.30am. He parked and I entered the
hospital. About two and half hours later, I came back and my car wasn’t
where it was parked. I called his numbers, none was going through. Then,
I called my husband and told him to come and pick me. He came and took
me back to the office.
“I thought he(Okon) just drove the car out
to enjoy himself and that he would bring it back. But between 3pm and
4pm, we felt we needed to report to the police. So, we went to the
Yemetu Police Station in Ibadan, where we reported the disappearance of
the driver and the car, and the police took it up from there.
“The
following day, the station directed us to the office of the Federal
Special Anti-Robbery Squad at Dugbe, Ibadan, with a letter and a
policeman. We got there and they started their job.”
Though
Obaba, who owns a nursery and primary school in the vicinity of one of
the military barracks in Ibadan, stated that she got the driver through
an agent, investigation revealed that a soldier stood as a guarantor for
Okon, who committed the alleged crime before his first salary could be
paid.
After driving away with the car, the tracker on the vehicle
showed that he was at a time in Ijebu Ode in Ogun State, and the last
time the vehicle was captured on the tracker was at Igbokoda, Ondo
State, before it resurfaced in Akwa Ibom State.
It was gathered that detectives travelled from Ibadan to Akwa Ibom State three times before they could apprehend the suspect.
In an interview with journalists, Okon confessed to the crime and appealed to the police to forgive him.
Leave a Reply