Inspector Rotimi Agboola of Western Ports Area Command, Apapa has narrated to SHIPS & PORTS DAILY how an importer duped the owner of a Toyota Venza 2013 model.
Agboola said one Promise Anailabo, based in Port Harcourt, reportedly asked his friend identified simply as Anyanwu to help him buy a Toyota car 2013 model from US. After he bought the car, he reportedly gave it to one Iyohe Derrick to ship to Nigeria and clear from the port.
After shipping the car to Nigeria, Derrick reportedly contacted one Alhaji Ademola to clear the car for him at the cost of N3.2 million which was said to have been paid by Anailabo. But three months after, Anailabo did not receive his car. He eventually reported the matter to the police.
“I was mandated to investigate the matter. So, I picked up the clearing agent, Alhaji Ademola and he made statement where he said he had cleared the vehicle and gave it to Derrick. I called Derrick from U.S., he said the car belongs to him and that was where the problem started.
“I asked him, ‘Are you the owner of the vehicle? Are you the one that paid for the car?’ He said no, that he shipped it. I called Anailabo he said he has paid for the clearing, shipping and everything about the car. So, he is the man holding on to the car.
“By the time we were looking for the car, we learnt he had used the vehicle to secure a loan of N2.7 million. It was later discovered that a Major from a Army barracks collected the car from Derrick’s sister and impounded the car for good four months inside the barracks. So, I managed to enter the army barrack to locate the whereabouts of the car.
“I wrote the Commissioner of Police to grant me the permission to arrest the Major but the moment the Major got wind that he might be arrested, he quickly surrendered himself and brought the car to the police station.
“Had it been that Derrick is in Nigeria, he is supposed to be in prison by now because he used the car without the consent of the owner to secure a loan which is criminal in nature. So Anailabo being the owner of the car was not in dispute,”
Inspector Agboola said. “However, Derrick is now claiming another N2.7 million. I asked him for what? Because the owner of the car does not owe him, the agent too does not owe him. So, why are you collecting money? I queried. Later, he said we should give the vehicle to the owner.”
Continuing, he said, “I wanted to charge Derrick to court but he evaded arrest because he is not in Nigeria. The sister too ran away to Edo State. So, Mr. Anailabo has taken the car because he is the rightful owner. Through the intervention of the Area Commander, Mr. Dode, the car was saved from being taken away by the money lender.”
Copyright 2017 Ships & Ports Ltd. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit given to www.shipsandports.com.ng as the source.