An employee of the Nigeria Postal Services (NIPOST), Mr. Lawal Olanrewaju and three of his cohorts have been arrested by the Ports Police Command for allegedly stealing an original Bill of Lading which was posted from the United States of America with which they fraudulently cleared four vehicles from Ports and Terminal Multiservice Limited (PTML).
Besides Olanrewaju who is also a Computer Science graduate, others who allegedly connived with him to commit the crime were: Mr. Wale Adegbesan and Mr. Theophilus Ibor.
The four vehicles which were illegally cleared are: a Honda Pilot Jeep valued at N2million, a 2008 Honda Accord valued at N3million, one Toyota Avalon estimated at N2million and a Nissan Maxima valued at N2million.
Parading the suspects in Lagos at the weekend, the Ports Commissioner of Police, Hillary Opara, explained that on March 31, 2010, one Mr. Dare Layoun reported to the Police that his brother who resides in the United States of America shipped the vehicles to him in Nigeria.
According Opara, the complainant informed his brother in the USA that he did not receive the shipping documents, including the Bill of Lading he sent through NIPOST.
“At this point, his brother decided to send another copy of the Bill of Lading, this time through the shipping company. And when he got to the terminal to commence clearing procedure, he discovered to his amazement that the four exotic cars had been cleared and removed by unknown persons”, the police boss explained, adding that Police detectives from the Ports Police Command immediately swung into action and commenced investigations which led to the arrest of the accused persons.
The commissioner of police explained that during police investigation, it was discovered that one of the accused person Theophillus Ibor co-opted his brother, Friday Nweke who in turn introduced one Innocent EzeaguUdoka who finally used the stolen original Bill of Lading to clear the four cars.
According to Opara, Theophillus Ibor also assisted Wale Adegbesan to obtain a current drivers licence with the name in the original Bill of Lading for identification purposes and to facilitate clearing of the cars.
Fortunately, all the suspects who conspired to steal the documents with which the four cars were cleared have been arrested while all the four cars have been recovered intact, the Police boss stated even as he stressed that the Ports Authority Police Command is determined to unravel the mystery behind the disappearance of goods from the seaports.
The commissioner of police said the accused persons will soon be charged to court and warned criminal elements to steer clear of the nation’s seaports as anyone arrested will be dealt with in line with the laws.
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