The Chairman of the Commercial Motorcycle and Tricycle Operators Association (COMTOA) Taskforce Monitoring Team Asaba, Delta State, has apprehended a suspected motorcycle theft syndicate that specialises in stealing motorcycles from Asaba and environs.
Chairman of Taskforce Monitoring Team, Chief Uchenna Okafor disclosed this in a chat in his office recently.
According to him, following the ban on thr use of motorcycles in some parts of Delta State, criminals now steal motorcycles parked in people’s homes.
He disclosed that luck ran out of the suspect when his Taskforce Team intercepted him riding against the State Government motorcycle ban law. He said, Taskforce believing that the suspect was a mere violator of the ban law, the motorcycle was impounded in their office so as to handover to the appropriate authority the following morning, the violator who was later discovered to be a thief intruded into the office premises at midnight, attempting to steal the motorcycle for the second time before he was caught.
The chairman said he was surprised when a member of his taskforce alerted him that the motorcycle was earlier stolen from the owner by the suspect. The chairman said, he promptly handed over the suspect to the security agency for further investigation.
The victim, who simply gave his name as Ogbonna, disclosed that the motorcycle was stolen from him in Oduke, Oshimili South Local Government Area of Delta State. According to him, “when the State Government banned motorcycle in our area, I haven’t been riding my bike; I just parked it in my house. Unfortunately, when I woke up in the morning, I discovered that my motorcycle was missing. I reported to the vigilante. Also, I alerted one of the Taskforce members called POCO that my motorcycle has been stolen. He told me that there was a bike they impounded and the owner tried to steal it at midnight from their office, that I should check if is mine. When went there, I discovered it was my stolen motorcycle.”
Meanwhile, Chief Okafor has reiterated the commitment of his Taskforce Monitoring Team to intercept and handover to the appreciate authority any motorcycle operator found violating the State government ban law.
Motorcycle owner
The Suspect