The Edo State Police Command has apprehended two individuals, a 25-year-old Navy officer named Ibrahim Adamu, and a 26-year-old Nigerian Correctional Service officer, Abdullahi Abdulwahab, on suspicion of car theft.
SP Chidi Nwabuzor, the spokesperson for the state command, disclosed during a press briefing on Tuesday that the suspects were apprehended in Ekpoma, dressed in military uniforms, by a specialized team of the command following reliable intelligence.
Nwabuzor explained that the suspects had assaulted the driver of an unregistered C300 Mercedes Benz in Sapele, Delta State, seized his vehicle, and coerced him into transferring N400,000 into their bank account.
The suspects intended to transport the car to Abuja for sale, but they were intercepted and arrested by the police in Ekpoma, Edo state.
Nwabuzor added, “The suspects have made statements and claimed to be personnel of the Nigerian Navy and Correctional Service respectively.”
He also confirmed that the vehicle and military uniforms were recovered from the suspects.
In a conversation with reporters, Ibrahim Adamu, who joined the Nigeria Navy in 2019, admitted to stealing a Mercedes Benz C300 car in Delta state.
“I was recruited into the Navy in 2019. I worked in Lokoja, Kogi state before I was posted to Warri, Delta state. It was when I went on a course in Sapele that I made the plan to steal a vehicle.
“After my course, Abdulwahab came to visit me and my plans, assuring him that we would make money and he agreed to join me. We chatted about a tricycle from Warri to Sapele for the operation.
“We saw a vehicle without a number plate in Sapele, we asked him to stop but he refused. We pursued him to a village where he finally stopped. And I told him, we are taking him to our office for driving an unregistered vehicle and he pleaded that we should settle the matter there but we refused.
“I took over the steering from him and started driving but when we got to Oghara Road, he offered us money to settle the matter and I told him to pay N500,000 but he paid N400,000 to a Point of Sale account which I gave him and was later transferred to me. We were driving to Abuja to sell the car when the police arrested us.”
Abdulwahab, a correctional service officer in Kaduna State, stated that this was his first involvement in a robbery and that it was Adamu who had invited him to Warri for the job.
