SHOCKING: Police finds stolen car, tells original owner “go to court if you want it back”
Newsroom reader Damola Soares said he had a terrible encounter with Nigeria Police Force and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).
Here’s his story…
My car, a green Toyota RAV 4, 2005 Model, got snatched at gun point at my residence on Friday October, 11, 2013 at about 10:40pm in front of my residence by five young men.
I was abducted in the car, with hands tied behind me, thrown off the edge of the bridge at Oworonshoki/Ogudu towards Third Mainland Bridge.
I reported the robbery at Alausa Police Station and also at the Police Control Room at GRA Ikeja for them to radio other police points across the country. After some months checking with the police and nothing positive forth coming, I gave up the search.
On November 5, 2016, at about 12pm, I got a call from a call from an unknown individual who had a few of my details with him and identified himself as a Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) officer in Anambra State.
He wanted to inquire if I had sold a car (which matched description of my stolen car) to anybody because the said individual wanted to request for tint permit for the car at their office and my details popped up on their system during the process.
I confirmed that the car was stolen and if they could kindly flag that registration. The case was subsequently handed over to the Anambra State Criminal and Investigation Department and the vehicle was detained, the papers seized and the supposed owner summoned to the station for questioning.
I was asked by the Anambra Police Department to come down to their station with police personnel in order to get the case transferred to Lagos as it was a robbery case.
On November 26, 2016, I went down to Anambra with two police officers, and took care of their feeding, transportation and lodging for two nights and three days.
Three suspects connected with the vehicle were arrested and I provided the transport means of bringing them to Lagos.
On getting to Alausa Police Station in Lagos, the owner of the vehicle who wanted to register it at Anambra provided police with proof of Lagos State Government Auction Papers claiming that he bought the car on auction from an auctioneer in Lagos who auctions for Lagos State Ministry Of Transportation.
However, the Alausa police wrote to the ministry about the case and they responded saying truly they auctioned the vehicle after it was recovered from the road as an abandoned vehicle and that they published the sale of the vehicle amongst hundreds of other cars in the Punch Newspapers in April 2014 and that they were operating within the confines of their municipal laws.
The case was transferred to the Lagos State Police Command, Ikeja, X Squad Department.
Now, the vehicle has been handed over to the last buyer/owner from Anambra State and I was told by the investigating officer of the case at X SQUAD that that is the decision of the officer in charge and if I have any grievance, I should go to court.
Please, Newsroom Nigeria, use your influence to expose this rot going on in the Lagos State Ministry of Transport.
They recover functional vehicles off the road, hide vehicles in their compounds and car lots for a period of time without getting in touch with the owners who can easily be contacted via the VEHICLE AUTO REG SYSTEM that they instituted, the same system that dutiful Anambra FRSC officer used to locate me.
FRSC could have reached my via that system but they didn’t.
