A location in Ughelli, Delta State, where stolen vehicles are disassembled and their parts sold has been uncovered by the police.
This latest success recorded by the Delta State Police Command, according to the spokesperson of the Command resulted from the directive of the state Commissioner of Police CP Wale Abass to Area Commanders and Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) to nip in the bud the growing trend of reported cases of vehicles being stolen from where they parked in areas like Asaba, Warri, Ughelli, and their environs.
DSP Edafe in a statement on Sunday said the discovery of the location on Cementary Road in Ughelli followed the arrest on Thursday, June 15, 2023, of two suspects, Phillip Ekugbe and Onome Erikefe both of Ekpan Community in Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State.
He said the two suspects specialize in snatching vehicles from Warri and its environs, and take them to Ughelli where they are disassembled and sold parts.
According to him, in line with the directive of CP Abass, “the DPO Ughelli Division closely supervised by the Area commander Ughelli ACP Adebayo Ademola, on 15/6/2023 while acting on intelligence gathered arrested the duo of Phillip Ekugbe ‘m’ and Onome Erikefe ‘m’ both of Ekpan community Effurun who specializes in snatching vehicles from Warri and environs, take them to Ughelli where they disassemble and sell the vehicles in parts.
“Seventy-four vehicle tyres, sixteen vehicle engines, eight gear boxes, fifteen motor batteries, two motorcycle engines and seven suspected stolen vehicles have so far been recovered.
“The vehicles include one Toyota Corolla with Reg. No. AJ 638 EFR, Toyota Carina with Reg. No. WW 748 SL, Toyota Corolla with Reg. No. DU 60 LSR, Toyota corolla with Reg. No. WWR 799 AE, Toyota Corolla with Reg. No. KSF 758 DC and one unregistered Nissan car. Suspects are in custody, and investigation is ongoing.”