Three tricycle drivers, Lawal Bidemi AbdulRaheem, Olalekan Azeez, and Opeloyeru Kayode have been arrested for conspiring together to steal 300 bags of cement from the warehouse of Sandtrust quarry company in Ogun state.
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.
The staff further noted that the cement is suspected to have been stolen from the warehouse of the 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 amongst them were apprehended.
Upon interrogation, the three suspects confessed to have stolen the cement from the warehouse of Sandtrust quarry, and that they used their tricycles to convey it to the bush, from where they were taken to the buyers in batches.
They confessed further that they have sold parts of the stolen cement to their customers before they were caught.
About 51 bags of cement were recovered from the arrested tricyclists 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 2nd of June 2021, were 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.
A police communique however stated that surprisingly, the three suspects jumped bail and went ahead to accuse the DPO of demanding a 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 on the 26th of June 2021.
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 their buyers be hunted for and brought to justice.
