Delta police arrest car snatchers, vandalizers, recover stolen vehicles, engines, others

By Sola Omoniyi, Lagos

The Delta State police command has apprehended suspected vehicle snatchers, vandalizers and recovered one Toyota Corolla with reg. no. AJ 638 EFR, Toyota Carina with reg. no. WW 748 SL, Toyota Corolla with reg. no. DU 60 LSR, Toyota Corolla with reg. no. WWR 799 AE, Toyota Corolla with reg. no. KSF 758 DC and one unregistered Nissan car.

Others included Seventy-four (74) vehicle tyres, sixteen (16) vehicle engines, eight (8) gear boxes, fifteen (15) motor batteries, two (2) motorcycle engines.

According to the police, the suspects are in custody and investigation is ongoing.

This was made available to newsmen in a statement by the state police spokesman DSP Bright Edafe in Asaba on Sunday.

The police spokesman said following series of reported cases of vehicles removed from parking areas in Asaba, Warri, Ughelli, and environs, the Commissioner of Police Delta state, CP Wale Abass directed Area commanders and DPOS to nip this trend in-the-bud and also warned that if the trend continues, officers concerned would be severely sanctioned.

Edafe said, “In line with this directive, the DPO Ughelli Division closely supervised by the Area commander Ughelli ACP Adebayo Ademola, on 15/6/2023 while acting on intelligence arrested the duo of Phillip Ekugbe ‘m’ and Onome Erikefe ‘m’ both of Ekpan community Effurun who specializes in snatching vehicles from Warri and environs, take them to Ughelli where they disassemble and sell the vehicles in parts.

According to him, Seventy-four (74) vehicle tyres, sixteen (16) vehicle engines, eight (8) gear boxes, fifteen (15) motor batteries, two (2) motorcycle engines and seven (7) suspected stolen vehicles had so far been recovered.

The vehicles included one Toyota Corolla with reg. no. AJ 638 EFR, Toyota carina with reg. no. WW 748 SL, Toyota Corolla with reg. no. DU 60 LSR, Toyota corolla with reg. no. WWR 799 AE, Toyota Corolla with reg. no. KSF 758 DC and one unregistered Nissan car.

In a related development, the DPO GRA division received a distress call that on 30/5/2023, a man took his Benz GLK 350 to a car wash situated along Mariam Babangida way for washing but when he returned back, he was told that one of the attendant had stolen the car and escaped to an unknown destination.

Edafe explained, “On receipt of this complaint, the DPO GRA CSP Spencer Tyozua detailed detectives to embark on an intelligence led investigation which paid off as the suspect named Emmanuel Chidera ‘m’ aged 22yrs was arrested on 14/6/2023 around magistrate court area in Asaba. During the course of interrogation, the suspect confessed that he had taken the car to Benin City in Edo state where he intend to sell the car. The vehicle had been recovered, and effort to arrest his accomplices is ongoing.”

Meanwhile, CP Wale Abass who is pleased with the effort showed by DPOS and Area commanders of the Command, also admonished them to sustain the tempo while appealing to Deltans to trust the police and help with useful information at all times.

The command gave out the following call numbers for information and report of suspected criminal cases in the state.
“CONTROL ROOM NUMBERS:

1. 08036684974
2. 08125958005
3. 09053872287
4. 09155570007 ( PPRO’S OFFICE).