Olufemi Atoyebi, Ibadan
The Oyo State Police Command on Wednesday paraded a dismissed police inspector, Herbert Mbachu 55, and a soldier attached to 2 Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army, Corporal Sikiru Balogun, 46, for being a member of a criminal gang that specialised in snatching fuel-laden tankers.
Seven other suspects, John Precious, 45, Lawal Olalekan 26, Sodiq Onifade, 26, Timothy Ayodele, 53, Oluwadare Segun aka Honourable, 30, Gabriel Olanrewaju, 39 and Gbadegesin Olawale, 45, were also paraded.
The state Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Odude, said the gang was arrested by the command’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad, adding that no fewer than six trucks had been snatched by the gang.
While Mbachu was dismissed by the police for desertion and other professional misconduct, Balogun, with service number 969NA/4310863 is still a serving soldier.
Odude said, “Mbachu and Balogun operated using their uniforms. In one of their latest operations, the suspects on April 4, 2017, at about 8am laid a siege for a truck with number plate APC 937 XB, laden with fuel along a bad portion of Sasa road in Ibadan and snatched it from the driver.
“The truck had 33,000 litres of fuel in the tank. They also abducted the driver to an unknown destination but dropped him off afterward. The lorry was driven to Efon Alaye and later Ife-Akure road where it was abandoned after disposing of its contents.”
The commissioner said discreet investigation carried out led to the arrest of one of the suspects, Onifade, from whom the truck driver’s mobile telephone was recovered. Also recovered from the gang were two Honda Accord cars with number plate AKD 74 BH and LSD 680 ES, a Nokia C-200 telephone and a sum of N1.2m.
Leave a comment