Driver Diverts 600 Bags Of Flour, Sells Off Truck
Operatives of Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State
Police Command have arrested a driver who connived with three other persons in
diverting his company 600 bags of flour before dismembering the truck for sale
in pieces.
The suspect, Garuba Lawal, 36, from Kwara State, connived
with three others now at large and diverted the 600 bags of flour to Sagamu,
Ogun State. The product was thereafter given out to a buyer, while he took the
truck to Ilorin, Kwara state, where it was dismembered and sold in pieces.
Garuba, who was recruited by the company (name withheld)
the same day to move the 600 bags of flour to a bakery in Ibadan, Oyo State,
was baited with N2 million by his accomplices to do their bidding.
The suspect, in his statement to the police, disclosed
that after loading on Sunday at the Nigeria Flour Mills in Apapa, a young man,
whose name was later given as Ismaila from Oyo State, approached him for a
discussion.
“He invited me close to my truck just as I was about to
drive it out of the loading bay. He asked me how much I have made in my life
since I have been driving truck. I replied him that I just joined the haulage
company…. He asked again, have ever seen money in your life? I said no. He
asked me again, if you see N2 million, what would you do with it? I answered
him that I would quit this truck driving job. Then, he told me that he would
introduce me to a deal. That was how we started.”
Garuba continued, “While his two other colleagues were
waiting in the Toyota Corrolla they brought. He took me to a corner and brought
a cowrie. He told me that I would have to swallow the cowrie as a sign of bond
that anybody that divulge the secret between us would die instantly…. I took
the cowrie and swallowed it. Immediately I did that, I observed that whatever
instruction he gave me, I was just obeying it without a second thought.”
According to sources, Garuba, in company of the three
accomplices diverted the 600 bags of flour to Sagamu instead of its scheduled
destination on a Sunday night. They got to Sagamu around 2:25 a.m on Monday.
“We entered Sagamu. It was very early in the morning and
I couldn’t identify anywhere so much. All along, they acted as escort for the
truck to Sagamu. One of them was in the truck with me because the motor-boy
didn’t follow us,” he stated.
The source added that at Sagamu, Garuba was informed that
the head of the truck had to be removed for a small one because it could not
enter the warehouse the goods were to be offloaded.
“We put a new truck head and they gave me N50,000. We
agreed that I drive the truck head to Kwara State in company of two other
member of the team to sell it off…. We got to Ilorin around 7:15 a.m. on
Monday. I took the two guys to where I live with my wife. They promised to
return with my share on N2 million as soon as bank is opened. They collected
N15,000 for hotel accommodation from the N50,000:00 they gave me…. When I
didn’t see them that day and the following day, I agreed with a buyer to knock
down the truck into pieces. The tyres, engine, radiator, chassis, etc for
N450,000. After, we had dismembered it, the Rapid Response Squad Lagos arrested
me,” he further noted.
Sources at the haulage firm disclosed that they were yet
to see the motor-boy that followed him on the said trip. This has fuelled the
suspicion that the motor-boy might have been killed by the gang to pave way for
a seamless execution of their plans.
Garuba insisted that the motor-boy didn’t follow them on
the trip. The motor boy’s phone has remained switched off since the incident.
Investigation revealed that the gang that diverted the
flour are the same gang which has been involved in several diversions of other
products.
Arrested along with him were Jimoh Adeleye, Wasiu Azeez
and Adeniran Jacob.
Confirming the development, the Police Public Relations
Officer, Assistant Superintendent of Police, ASP Olarinde Famous Cole, said
that there would be no hiding place for those who come to Lagos to perpetrate
crime, adding that the police would fish them out of their hiding.
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