A car theft syndicate that stole vehicles in Lagos, concealed them in Ibadan, and sold them in Ilorin has been dismantled by operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, following a painstaking intelligence-led investigation that cut across three states.
The breakthrough came after a Toyota Camry was reported stolen in Lagos, prompting detectives from the Lagos State Command to launch a methodical probe that would eventually unravel an elaborate cross-border operation.
“They stole cars in Lagos, hid them in Ibadan, and sold them in Ilorin,” said Aliyu Giwa, New Media Officer of the Nigeria Police Force. “The trail continued until it finally ended.”
By tracing the stolen vehicle to where it had been fraudulently re-registered, officers tracked and arrested three suspects, recovering five stolen vehicles in the process.
The suspects, Segun Olawuwo, 58; Femi Afolabi, 53; and Sunday Ugbomudia, 53, were apprehended at different locations. Olawuwo was found in Ibadan in possession of a stolen Toyota Corolla, while Afolabi and Ugbomudia were arrested together in Ilorin, Kwara State. All three have confessed to car theft and robbery, both within and outside Lagos State.
The recovered vehicles include three Toyota Camry models, a 2008, another 2008, and a 2012 and two Toyota Corolla models from 2008 and 2006. One of the recovered cars, a 2012 Toyota Camry, had already been sold to an unsuspecting buyer in Ibadan before officers intervened.
Inspector General of Police, Olatunji Rilwan Disu, personally commended the Lagos State Command for its tenacity in pursuing the case beyond state lines.
“They followed the evidence from Lagos to Ibadan and then to Ilorin, making sure every stolen vehicle was recovered and every suspect was arrested,” Giwa quoted the IGP as saying. “This is an example of relentless, intelligence-led policing.”
Police say the search for other members of the syndicate remains ongoing.
Giwa, who shared the details of the operation via social media on May 22, used the development to reassure Nigerians whose vehicles had been stolen.
“For every Nigerian whose car was stolen and who wondered if anyone was searching,” he wrote, “the Lagos State Command was indeed looking across three states.”
