Driver arraigned over alleged theft of employer’s N25m truck

August 27, 2017 11:09 AM

Haruna is standing trial on a two-count charge of conspiracy and stealing.

An Ikeja Magistrates’ Court on Friday, August 25, admitted a 35-year-old driver,

Haruna, a resident of Abule-Osun on Badagry Expressway, Lagos, is standing trial on a two-count charge of conspiracy and stealing.

The Magistrate, Mrs O.A. Layinka, who admitted the accused to bail, ordered him to produce two sureties in like sum.

Layinka said the sureties must be gainfully employed with evidence of two years’ tax payment to the Lagos State Government.

Earlier, the Prosecutor, Sgt. Donjor Perezi, told the court that the accused committed the offences on May 16 in Apapa, Lagos.

Perezi said the accused conspired with another man still at large to abscond with a Howo truck worth N25 million, property of Dangote Nigeria Plc.

He said the complainant (the company) claimed that the driver took the truck without authorisation and used it for an illegal haulage of contraband (Turkey) from Lagos to Benin.

The prosecutor said the accused and his accomplice were stopped by customs officials in Benin where the truck and the contraband were impounded.

Perezi said when the company noticed that one of its trucks was missing, it reported the case to the police, only to discover that one of their drivers, Haruna, had taken the truck out without authorisation.

“The company got to know that the truck had been seized for illegal haulage of contraband by the driver.

“Haruna was handed over to the police by the company, while his accomplice is still at large,” Perezi said.

The offences contravened Sections 287 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Sections 287 and 411 prescribe three and two years imprisonment respectively.

The case was adjourned until September 25 for mention.