By ALBERT AKPOR

For sometime now, the Police in Lagos state have been battling unsuccessfully to unravel where truck loads of goods, especially electric cables, were normally diverted and sold at a much cheaper rate.

But detectives attached to the Force Criminal Investigations Department, FCID, Special Fraud Unit annex, Ikoyi, got the lead recently after a truck load of aluminum rods weighing 30 tons which mysteriously disappeared into thin air between Sango and the toll gate on Lagos Abeokuta expressway, was traced to a company allegedly owned by some Indian nationals.

The market price of the rods which belonged to MicCom cables and wires Ltd was put at N15.2m. It was gathered that the goods were purchased from a regular supplier, MNIL Ltd by MicCom cables and was on transit to its factory at Ojokoro when it was illegally diverted.

Crime Guard was told that the driver and his motor boy cleverly stopped the vehicle at the middle of the road at about 12 midnight the fateful day, pretending that it had develop fault. Having tried to put it back on the road without success, the purchasing manager who was said to be in the vehicle at the time unsuspectingly advised that both the driver and his boy kept watch over it till the following morning when they could fetch a mechanic to fix it.

However, moments after he left, they reportedly conspired and diverted the vehicle and its contents to one Subhander Allied Impex, Ltd Ikorodu where the goods was allegedly sold at a give -away price of N6m.

The office complex of MicCom cables Ltd., where the goods were to be transferred to.

The purchasing manager was shocked to his marrow the following morning when he arrived the spot and discovered that both the vehicle, the driver and his boy and, of course, the rods had disappeared.

He was said to have raised an alarm and subsequently reported the matter to the Sango Police Divisional Headquarters for necessary action. After one month, the police combed all nook and crannies of Sango and environs for the ‘missing’ vehicle and rods without success.

However, they (police) later got a lead that the cables were actually diverted to the foreigner’s company and they reportedly stormed the premises and upon interrogation, they confessed receiving the good adding that they thought it was genuinely sold to them.

Three Indians and their Nigerian collaborators were arrested and taken to Sango Division but granted administrative bail after they (Indians) agreed to settle owners of the cables insisting that they acted in ignorance.

However, a twist was introduced into the matter after the foreigners failed to honor the invitation by the DPO Sango Division on the ground that the Commissioner of Police, CP, was interested in the matter and would want to meet with both parties.

But rather than honor the invitation and their earlier pledge to pay for the goods and other damages, they transferred the case to the office of the Assistant Inspector-General of police, AIG, Zone 2, Onikan where the three Nigerians involved in the diversion were detained and refused bail while the foreigners who bought the goods were left off the hook.

The Executive Director of MicCom cables Ltd, Bukola Adubi who expressed reservations over the role of the police in Zone 2, said the earlier sobriety exhibited by the foreigners to settle the bills has since fizzled the moment the matter was transferred to the office of the AIG. He said, “ When the matter was reported at Sango Division, we later got an invitation from the office of the CP, Eleweran, Abeokuta on Thursday, August 18, 2011, but while we honored the invitation, the Indian suspects and their representatives openly refused to show up.

On Tuesday August 23rd , Subhander Allied Impex Ltd through one of its representatives, one Mr. Joseph made an offer of N10m to us through our external company secretary in full and final settlement for our stolen goods. But we found the offer very annoying and rejected it in its entirety.

But the DPO Sango insisted that the CP’s earlier invitation must be honored on the ground that the theft and recovery was done within his jurisdiction. Again, we went to the office of the CP while awaiting the coming of the Indians and their representatives.

But rather than honor it, we later heard that the matter has been transferred by the suspects to zone 2, a situation we found embarrassing. We had to write a protest letter, following which these Indians were arrested but released almost immediately while the Nigerian are still languishing in the cell. We were later forced to alert the office of the Inspector-General of Police who instructed that the matter be transfers to the Force CID, SUF Annex but up till date, the police in zone 2 have refused to effect the IGP’s order.

Instead, a meeting was fixed at the zone 2, where the Indian suspects, together with their lawyers, pleaded for a refund of our stolen aluminum rods in the following installment of N5.2m draft to be paid immediately (Sept. 26, 2011), N5m to be paid 20 days from the date of the first payment (Oct. 16, 2011) and another N5m to be paid 20 days from the date of the second payment (November 5, 2011).

An agreement has even been prepared to this effect. But we feel that even if we collect the drafts, we can no longer purchase the same tons of aluminum let alone get compensated for damages.

But the suspect who spoke through one Anrit Singn, the Managing Director of Subhander Allied Impex Ltd, Ikorodu said they bought the goods out of ignorance adding that they were ready for peace hence they issued those draft. He said, “We were convinced that the goods we were buying were from genuine source that was why we paid for it.

We are not dubious, the police granted us bail, but I cannot say why they refused to grant the Nigerians bail. We have issued draft and that shows that we are ready to pay for those goods stolen and sold to us.”