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How online shopping mart gave away suspected car thief

By Odita Sunday
08 August 2016   |   1:56 am
A thirty-five-year-old man arrested by the operatives of Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of Lagos State Police Command has revealed that his pastor pushed him into the illicit business of selling stolen vehicles.
The vehicle

The vehicle

A thirty-five-year-old man arrested by the operatives of Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of Lagos State Police Command has revealed that his pastor pushed him into the illicit business of selling stolen vehicles.

The suspect, Olawale Olabinwonnu, who works with a ‘white garment’ church in Ikorodu as an Administrative Officer, was arrested by RRS Intelligence Team on Tuesday for attempting to sell a Nissan Sentra 2015 Model, stolen by robbers at gunpoint.

The vehicle, which original vehicle registration number was changed to a fake one, APP 510 DW, to facilitate its quick sales, was recovered on Monday, August 1, 2016 at a car park in Lekki, Lagos.

It was learnt that RRS intelligence had on seeing the vehicle on a popular online shopping platform (name withheld), called its marketer to indicate its interest to buy. RRS officials pretended to be a couple interested in buying the car.

Enthusiastically, the man who took the custody of the stolen Nissan Sentra came forward to welcome the buyers before he was arrested. He, however, assisted the police in the arrest of its marketer in Ikorodu, several days later.

Olawale, apparently sensing something was wrong with the vehicle, had along with his family parked out of his Ikorodu residence and office to evade arrest, but RRS team were said to have tracked him to another church in Ikorodu, where he was arrested last Sunday after church service.

The vehicle, which is owned by one of the first generation banks in the country, was reportedly stolen at gunpoint when robbers invaded a hotel in Iju–Ishaga area where the manager of the bank was lodging.

The robbers were reported to have requested for the car key from the banker before making away with it along with other valuables.

According to Olawale: “Ahmed Abbey gave me the vehicle to sell. I met him at Dammy Jay Hotel, Ikorodu. I went there to drink and he came to my table, bought drinks for everybody. When I was going home, he gave me N2,000 as I had no job.

“I saw Abbey later that week to explain how he could help me get a job. This time, he asked me if I could help sell his sister’s car as she was travelling overseas. I consulted my pastor twice on the issue of helping him sell a car. First, the pastor told me to go ahead and collect the car from him and sell it. I took the car from Abbey and began to market it but after about three weeks, I couldn’t get a buyer. He took the car from me.

“Some weeks later, I stumbled on him with the car and he challenged me that I didn’t want to help his sister. After a while, we agreed that I would help him to look for buyer. I consulted my pastor. This time, the pastor introduced me to somebody in Lekki, who has a car park at a very conspicuous place, where we can put the car for sale.

It was here the car was until I learnt that the car was stolen.

“Since I was arrested, I have been calling Abbey to come and explain to the police how he gave me the car to sell, but most of the time, he avoided my calls. At times, he switched off his phone. At present, he is no longer picking any call on that line,” he added.

Confirming the arrest, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Dolapo Badmos, a Superintendent of Police, said the suspect was helping the police in its investigations, adding that efforts were on to arrest the man, who gave him the car to sell.

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