EFCC discovers car thieves’ new tricks

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has  said car thieves  have resorted to new tricks  to  steal  cars from individuals and car dealers  issuing stolen or  dud cheques.

According to the  commission, the public should be on the alert  when transacting business with people they do not know.

In a statement on Monday, the   anti-corruption body said it  discovered    this while  investigating  the  petitions  against one Babatunde Oni, also known as  Olu Daniel.

Babatunde, who  comes  from Odo Eri, Yagba West Local Government Area of Kogi State, was recently arrested by the Ibadan zonal office of the EFCC  over  alleged conspiracy, stealing and issuance of  a dud cheque following a petition received from Mr Kamoru Yekini on November 21, 2018.

The petitioner had alleged that on October 16, 2018 Babatunde and another man approached him at his   shop in  Iwo, Osun State,  to express interest in purchasing a 2006 Toyota Matrix he displayed for sale.

After negotiating the price, they agreed on N1,580,000.00, and a post-dated First Bank cheque was issued supposedly to cover the cost of the car.

According to the petitioner, Babatunde  acted  as the  second suspect’s driver.

 The other man falsely introduced himself as the account owner and a doctor at Bowen University, Iwo.

After agreeing  on the price, he said Babatunde left the scene to ‘deposit’ the money and later came with a copy of the deposit slip as  evidence of payment of the agreed sum.

Although the car dealer was not  comfortable with the payment arrangement,  he  released the car, hoping that he would contact the ‘buyer’  on the telephone if there was any issue.

According to the EFCC, the following day he got a call from his bank that the cheque had been returned unpaid due to insufficient  money.

Meanwhile, the EFCC recovered the car in Abuja where it was  sold to a lady for N1,8m.

The commission   later arrested Babatunde  in his hideout in Abuja.

While Babatunde was  in the  custody of the EFCC, another complainant surfaced with a similar claim, saying on September 7, 2018, two men came to his filling station around Mokola, Ibadan, to negotiate the price of a 2007 Toyota Avensis car he displayed.

According the commission, he alleged that after agreeing  to buy the car for  N2m, Babatunde issued a cheque.

Just as he did in the other case, Babatunde  acted as the driver. He also took the cheque to bank to ‘deposit’ the money and came back with a deposit slip.

While they were 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 the suspects  zoomed off with the car since the car keys and papers had already been handed over to them.