Posted by By Juliana Francis on
The police in Lagos have held three men accused of stealing a Mercedes 911 bus from a garage in Orile area of Lagos.
The police in Lagos have held three men accused of stealing a Mercedes 911 bus from a garage in Orile area of Lagos.
The mission of the suspects, according to the police, was to dismantle the bus at Onitsha and sell it in bits. Peter Okonkwo, who masterminded the plan, was a former conductor to the owner.
Explaining why he decided to steal the man's bus, he said: 'I needed the money to start a business. I've tried everything, since I came to Lagos five years ago, but nothing I do, ever fetched me much. The suffering was too much."
Okonkwo explained that on June 19, while everyone was sleeping, he had sneaked into the garage to steal the bus that was not locked. He said 'I've been planning and watching it for sometime. It took me like three months to plan how to steal that bus. I choose to steal a molue because that's the only type of vehicle I can drive."
Before he stole the bus, Okonkwo made plans with a buyer at Onitsha identified as Geoffrey Nwogbo. He said there was no way he could drive the bus to Onitsha without a conductor who would be watching the roads for him to avoid accident.
He found and convinced Ikechukwu Nwite to escort him to Onitsha. Nwite fell for the plan, because Okonkwo told him he would get a share in the money after the business deal goes through.
Unaware that a frantic search had started when the bus was discovered stolen from the park, the men sailed into Onitsha.
A day after they arrived Onitsha, they were confronted by the traders at Nkpor market, who already heard that a bus had been stolen from Lagos.
Nwite said: 'I've known Peter for long. Yes, he told me he was not the owner of the bus. He told me that Geoffrey, the person we were taking the bus to, would pay us N18, 500 for bringing the bus to Onitsha. He promised to give me N5000. I didn't know he stole the bus. He told me he wanted to go and renew the bus at Onitsha."
They were almost at Onitsha when they ran out of fuel. They parked it and went straight to Nwogbo's shop.
Nwogbo was said to have given them N10, 000 for fuel. The bus was driven to the market, parked and left for the night.
Okonkwo and Nwite came to the market, the next day to meet angry traders, who had heard that a stolen bus was likely to be brought into the market for sell.
Nwogbo had left his home early that morning to scout for buyers, but was quickly called by one of his friends and intimated about the latest development.
He was said to have arrived Nkpor market with trepidation. Trying to fool people that he never knew the bus was stolen, Nwogbo had joined the angry traders in beating Okonkwo and Nwite.
Okonkwo told detectives that Nwogbo had earlier asked him to bring any vehicle to Onitsha. But Nwogbo denied ever setting his eyes on the duo before that day. According to him, the first time he met the duo was when they came to his shop to beg for money to refuel their bus. But Okonkwo insisted he had known Nwogbo years ago, while he was a driver in Onitsha.
Though Okonkwo claimed it was his first time in trying his hands on crime, detectives said the trio had been in the business of taking stolen vehicles to Onitsha to sell.