EFCC Operatives
EFCC Alerts
EFCC Operatives
EFCC Alerts on New Tricks By Car Thieves
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has advised the
general public to be vigilant in order not to fall victim to new
tricks deployed by car thieves to dispossess unsuspecting Nigerians
of their vehicles.
The alert is borne out of the shocking discoveries made during
investigations into the allegations of crime levelled against one
Babatunde Oluwatope Oni (aka Olu Daniel, Oni Daniel Oluwatope).
Babatunde, who hails from Odo Eri, Yagba West Local Government
Area of Kogi State, was recently arrested by the Ibadan zonal
office of the Commission for alleged conspiracy, stealing and
issuance of dud cheque following a petition received from one
Kamoru Yekini on November 21, 2018.
It was alleged that on October 16, 2018, two men approached him
at his shop at Iwo town, Osun State to indicate interest in
purchasing a 2006 Toyota Matrix car he displayed for sale.
After negotiation on the price, the two parties agreed on One
Million, Five Hundred and Eighty Thousand Naira (N1,580,000), and a
post-dated First Bank cheque was issued supposedly to cover the
cost. The cheque bore the name Rabiu Bamidele Lateef as the account
owner.
But, in order to veil his criminal intention, Babatunde
allegedly acted as a driver to the other suspect (now at large),
with whom he came for the negotiation. The other man falsely
introduced himself as the account owner and a Doctor at Bowen
University, Iwo.
Having agreed on the price, Bamidele left the scene to ‘deposit’
the money and later came with a copy of the deposit slip as an
evidence of payment of the agreed sum.
Though not comfortable with the payment arrangement, the car
dealer still reluctantly released the vehicle and the custom duty
papers, hoping that he would contact the ‘buyer’ through his phone
number should any issue arise.
It was until the following day that he got a call from his bank
that the cheque has been returned unpaid due to insufficient funds.
All efforts he made to get the suspects, proved abortive since all
the information given turned out to be false.
That led him to petition the EFCC for assistance. The Commission
swung into on receipt of the complaint and recovered the car in
Abuja where it was already sold to a lady for a sum of N1,800,000
(One Million, Eight Hundred Thousand Naira).
Further investigations tracked the car back to Babatunde, who
was later arrested in his hideout in Abuja, the Federal Capital
Territory.
While Babatunde was already in the EFCC’s custody, another
complainant surfaced with a similar issue.
According to the complainant, on September 7, 2018 two men came
to his filling station around Mokola, Ibadan, Oyo State to
negotiate for a 2007 Toyota Avensis car he displayed.
He further alleged that after the negotiation, they agreed for
N2,000,000 (Two Million Naira). Again, Bamidele immediately issued
a cheque of N2 million, purportedly as payment for the car.
Just as he did in the other case, Babatunde, again acted as the
driver to a ‘big man’ he came with. He also took the cheque to the
seller’s bank to ‘deposit’ the sum, and came back with a deposit
slip.
While they were already testing the car, the car dealer told the
suspects to hold on for him to confirm the status of the deposit
from his account officer.
But before he could do that, Bamidele and his partner zoomed off
with the car since the car keys and papers had already been handed
over to them. The cheque with which he made the ‘payment’ was later
returned unpaid and all efforts made to contact the men proved
abortive.
Investigation by the EFCC revealed that Babatunde’s modus
operandi was to issue cheques to car dealers and leave with the
car. Such cheques were either stolen from unsuspecting Nigerians or
are linked to unfunded accounts. For instance, the cheque bearing
the name of Rabiu Bamidele Lateef issued in the first case was
stolen as the owner, a pastor, had made statement to the Commission
to deny knowledge of issuance of his cheque for the said
transaction.
Apart from stealing people’s cheques and issuing dud cheques to
commit acts of fraud, investigations also show that Bamidele often
uses fictitious names in some of his criminal transactions.
When asked about the identities of his accomplices in the
operations, Bamidele gave the name as Santar Ademola, who, he
alleged, was late at the time of his arrest.
The suspect appears to be a serial car thief as further
investigations revealed that sometimes in 2017, he was prosecuted
by a sister agency for similar offence. He was, however, released
from prison custody where he was remanded when the complainant
stopped showing interest.
Members of the public are by this report advice to be wary when
transacting business with people they do not know.
The Commission is making frantic efforts to get other culprits
arrested. They will be charged to court as soon as investigations
are concluded.
Tony Orilade
Ag. Head, Media & Publicity