The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested a former councillor in Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State.
Samuel Adeojo was allegedly fingered as the leader of a car theft syndicate notorious for stealing vehicles from car dealers through pretence as genuine buyers.
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Until his arrest recently, the EFCC had been on his trail after series of petitions against his gang’s criminal activities were considered by the commission’s office in Ibadan.
No fewer than three cases of car theft have been established against the syndicate, with all the vehicles involved recovered and kept in the commission’s custody in Ibadan.
Investigations revealed that the gang deploys similar pattern of tricks to steal vehicles from their victims.
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EFCC’s spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, said in a statement on Tuesday that the commission’s findings showed that the ex-councillor often pretends to be a medical doctor, adopting different names and different institutions as his place of work.
One of the many cases reported, Mr Uwujaren said, involved a Toyota Avensis wagon car in which Adeojo claimed to be one Dr Gboyega Omojola of the University College Hospital, Ibadan.
The case was reported to the EFCC, Ibadan office on March 23 by Tunde Adejuwon, an Ibadan-based car dealer.
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According to the petitioner, ‘Dr. Omojola’ had come in company of a man, Babatunde Oni, his supposed driver, to negotiate for the car and later agreed to pay N2 million for it.
After the agreement, ‘Dr. Omojola’ issued a N2 million Skye Bank cheque ostensibly in favour of the dealer and ordered his ‘driver’ to pay it into his Zenith Bank account at Bodija, Ibadan.
Oni later came with a copy of the Zenith bank deposit teller, depicting ‘payment’ of the agreed sum into the dealer’s account.
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It was, however, later discovered that the payment was not approved as the payer used a cloned cheque for the transaction.
The spokesman said Oni is currently at Agodi Correctional Centre, following a court order after his arraignment on one of the incidents.
He added that the ex-councillor would soon be prosecuted.
