The saying “only the guilty are afraid” aptly captures what transpired between a Police patrol team led by the Area Commander in-charge of Area D Command, Mushin, ACP Akinbayo Olasoji and a motorist, later identified as Pius Kingsley Ebere, a big time auto parts dealer based in Ladipo market recently.
The police team on that fateful day, stopped a Honda Accord saloon car with registration number FST 616 DV, owned and driven by Pius Kingsley Ebere, for a routine check; but instead of allowing the police do their job, the suspect hurried out of his car and escaped into the darkness of the night.
The vehicle was towed to the station and the runaway suspect was eventually arrested.
When the car was searched, the following items were recovered, plate number engraved with registration number AAA 472 CP believed to be that of the vehicle from which it was stolen, were recovered from the suspect: two headlamps, car stereo, four side door automatic control panels, brain box, side mirrors and four rear seats.
Investigation revealed that the items were stolen from a Lexus GX 472 SUV aka Jeep, belonging to one Suleiman Waheed Adebola who had since been contacted and he affirmed that the recovered items were parts of his car vandalised in Ekoro area of the state.
Other items recovered from the suspect’s car includes: five brain boxes of Toyota and Lexus vehicles, four car stereo sets, a pair of Toyota Corolla 2011 rear lights, a pair of Toyota Corolla 2011 headlamps, three pairs of side mirrors and one front grill cover of Infinity Jeep.
All recovered items are engraved with licensed registration numbers by their various owners who had been contacted by the police to report with proof of ownership.
Further revelation by the suspect, led to the arrest of his accomplice, one Peter Attah, aka Dangote, also an auto parts dealer at Ladipo Auto spare parts market where search warrant was executed and various types of suspected stolen car parts were recovered.
The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, CP Imohimi Edgal, had earlier advised that vehicle owners should engrave their registration numbers on their vehicle parts to discourage vandals and predispose them to arrest by the police.
Recall that exactly two months before the latest incident, another auto parts dealer from same Ladipo market, one Daniel Ekwerekwu, was confronted by a police patrol team from Anthony Police Division in early hours of the morning as he was vandalizing cars parked on the streets of Mende-Maryland; unfortunately his attempt to evade police arrest ended fatally as his effort to scale a high wall led to his death.
Photo: Pius Kinsley Ebere, suspect.
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