Three tricycle drivers have been arrested by the police in Ogun State for conspiring to steal 300 bags of cement from a warehouse of Sandtrust quarry company.
The suspects are Lawal Bidemi AbdulRaheem, Olalekan Azeez and Opeloyeru Kayode.
They 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 were suspected to have been stolen from the warehouse of their company.
Upon the report, the Divisional Police Officer, Awa Ijebu division, CSP Adewalehinmi Joshua, mobilised 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.
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 buyers in batches.
They confessed further that they had sold parts of the stolen cements to their customers before they were caught.
51 bags of cement were recovered from them in the bush, while another 20 bags were recovered from one of the buyers.
The three tricycles they used for the operation were also impounded.
The suspects, who were arrested on June 2, 2021, were granted administrative bail pending when the strike embarked upon by the judicial staff workers would be called off so as to arraign them in court.
The three tricycle operators jumped bail and went ahead to accuse 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 on June 26, 2021.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, 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.
