The Customs Area Controller (CAC), Seme Area Command, Comptroller Victor Dimka has handed over two recovered vehicles and two suspects to the Head of INTERPOL Lagos, DSP Emmanuel Fadere on Tuesday, 16th February, 2016.
A statement issued by the Command’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr. Selechang Taupyen gave details of the recovered vehicles as follows; Black BMW X6 Series with VIN No VIN-SUXFG43569L225084, and Italian Masarati GHIBLI, with VIN No ZAMWS57B001112000 while the names of the two suspects includes; Mr. Appah George Gobatran and Mr. Umeh Onyekachi.
The statement further disclosed that the CAC had earlier ordered the detention and investigation of the two suspects involved in the trans-border crime of the stolen vehicles on the 2nd February, 2016 adding that the handover of the recovered vehicles and the suspects was done in the spirit of interdepartmental co-operation.
The statement informed that the Comptroller disclosed that the keys of the stolen vehicles and the two suspects were handed over for further investigation, repatriation and onward delivery to their owners saying that the stolen vehicles from Canada and Italy were detected and recovered by the INTERPOL personnel, Mr. Mathias Marth and Mr. Eric Sturm from Germany INTERPOL unit who led the operation.
It further noted that the recovery of the stolen vehicles into Nigeria was made possible through the use of the INTERPOL information apparatus even as he observed that the vehicle, BMW X6 series with chassis number VIN-SUXFG43569L225084 was said to be heading to Ghana from Nigeria, while the Italian Masarati GHIIBLI with VIN No ZAMWS57b001112000 with Italian plate No EV 413 YZ that was reported stolen in Italy on 20th January, 2016 was discovered among the vehicles that were escorted into Nigeria on transit from the Republic of Benin and parked at the vehicle seat.
“The INTERPOL personnel disclosed that the INTERPOL message was sent to the Canadian Stolen Motor Vehicle Database and a confirmation from the database reveals that the vehicle was reported stolen and has been declared to be on the wanted list of the Hamilton Regional Police since September 2014.
“Operation ADWENPA is an operational plan where information is shared through a dedicated platform that will be provided by INTERPOL and World Customs Organization (WCO) along with other countries. It is an INTERPOL coordinated programme aimed at building the border management capacity of five (5) West African countries (Nigeria, Benin Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo) all located on the Lagos coastal corridor. The operation is to enhance border management in human trafficking, drug smuggling, anti-migrant smuggling, stolen and lost travel documents and stolen motor vehicles using INTERPOL tools and services.
“The operation was executed in Seme/Krake as one of the designated borders of the participating countries using the multiple border management agencies like the Police, Immigration, Customs, INTERPOL and NDLEA. The objective of the operation among others is to raise enlightenment between border areas and use INTERPOL tools and services in fighting border related crimes in West Africa, engage actors, agencies, major stakeholders of the five (5) countries to take part in the regional management operations, improve Nigeria border control management system and to gather data to be recorded in the INTERPOL database.
“The programme is funded by the Canadian government with INTERPOL as the coordinating and implementing agency”, the statement read.
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