Bribery allegation: Police rearrest cement ‘thieves’ on bail

The alleged cement thieves

By Adejoke Adeleye, Abeokuta
Three tricycle drivers, Lawal AbdulRaheem, Olalekan Azeez and Opeloyeru Kayode have been arrested for conspiring to steal 300 bags of  cement from warehouse of Sandtrust quarry company in Ijebu area of Ogun State.
Ogun Police spokesperson, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi in a statement revealed that the suspects were arrested following a report lodged at Awa Ijebu divisional headquarters, by a staff of the company who reported that he saw some people in a bush very close to the quarry loading cement into their tricycles.
He reported further that the cements is suspected to have been stolen from the warehouse of their company.
Upon the report, the Dpo Awa ijebu division, Csp Adewalehinmi Joshua, mobilized his patrol team and moved to the scene. On sighting the policemen, the suspects took to their heels, but they were hotly chased, and three among them were apprehended.
On interrogation, the three suspects confessed to have stolen the cements from the warehouse of Sandtrust quarry, and that they used their tricycles to convey it to the bush, from where they were taking it to the buyers in batches.
They confessed further that they have sold parts of the stolen cements to their customers before they were caught.
Meanwhile about 51 bags of cement were recovered from them in the bush, while another 20 bags were recovered from one of the buyers, while the three tricycles they used for the operation were also impounded.
The suspects, who were arrested on the on 2nd of June 2021 have been granted administrative bail pending when the strike embarked upon by the judicial staff workers will be called off so as to arraign them in court.
Surprisingly, the three suspects jumped bail and went ahead to accused the DPO of demanding bribe from them, and that their refusal to bribe him made the DPO not to release their tricycles.
They were subsequently traced to their hideout in Ijebu ode where they were re arrested last Friday.
Meanwhile, the commissioner of police Cp Edward Awolowo Ajogun has ordered that the suspects be charged to court without further delay.
He also directed that their other accomplices as well as the buyers of the stolen cements should be hunted for and brought to justice.