A sales agent, Abdullahi Yakubu, has been arraigned at Ogba Magistrate’s Court, Lagos State, on five counts bordering on obtaining money under false pretences and stealing.
Yakubu allegedly connived with one Victor Kalu, and a tanker driver, to divert 45,000 litres of kerosene belonging to one Mohammed Idris.
Our correspondent learnt that Yakubu, who had been working with Idris for about five years, contacted the businessman on the phone on November 1, 2018, telling him that 45 litres of kerosene worth N10,620,000 was available for sale.
It was gathered that Idris sent the sum to the bank account of the marketer who wanted to sell the product after the deal was finalised.
The businessman was also said to have sent a sum of N280,000 to Yakubu’s bank account to hire a truck that would convey the product from a depot at Tin Can Port, Apapa, to Okene, Kogi State.
City Round learnt that Kalu facilitated the hiring of the truck and a driver who was to convey the kerosene to Okene.
After the driver left the port, his whereabouts became unknown while the kerosene-laden tanker had yet to be recovered.
The businessman consequently wrote a petition to the police at the Area D Command, Mushin, which led to the arrest of Yakubu and Kalu.
A police prosecutor, Inspector Koti Aondohemba, brought the two suspects before the court on Thursday on five counts of stealing and obtaining money under false pretences.
He told the court presided over by Magistrate O. A. Tanimola that the offences contravened sections 280, 314(1)(b)(3) and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2015.
The charges read in part, “That you, Abdullahi Yakubu, Victor Kalu and others now at large on November 1, 2018 at Tin Can Port, Apapa, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did fraudulently obtain the sum of N10,620,000 property of one Mohammed Idris under the pretence that you had 45,000 litres of kerosene to be supplied, knowing it was false.
“That you, Abdullahi Yakubu, Victor Kalu and others now at large, on the same date, time and place, in the aforementioned magisterial district, did fraudulently obtain the sum of N280,000, property of one Mohammed Idris, under false pretences that the money was meant for hiring a truck, knowing it was false.”
The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges and elected summary trial.
They were admitted to bail in the sum of N600,000 each with two sureties each in like sum while the matter was adjourned till January 23, 2019 for mention.
Yakubu allegedly connived with one Victor Kalu, and a tanker driver, to divert 45,000 litres of kerosene belonging to one Mohammed Idris.
Our correspondent learnt that Yakubu, who had been working with Idris for about five years, contacted the businessman on the phone on November 1, 2018, telling him that 45 litres of kerosene worth N10,620,000 was available for sale.
It was gathered that Idris sent the sum to the bank account of the marketer who wanted to sell the product after the deal was finalised.
The businessman was also said to have sent a sum of N280,000 to Yakubu’s bank account to hire a truck that would convey the product from a depot at Tin Can Port, Apapa, to Okene, Kogi State.
City Round learnt that Kalu facilitated the hiring of the truck and a driver who was to convey the kerosene to Okene.
After the driver left the port, his whereabouts became unknown while the kerosene-laden tanker had yet to be recovered.
The businessman consequently wrote a petition to the police at the Area D Command, Mushin, which led to the arrest of Yakubu and Kalu.
A police prosecutor, Inspector Koti Aondohemba, brought the two suspects before the court on Thursday on five counts of stealing and obtaining money under false pretences.
He told the court presided over by Magistrate O. A. Tanimola that the offences contravened sections 280, 314(1)(b)(3) and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2015.
The charges read in part, “That you, Abdullahi Yakubu, Victor Kalu and others now at large on November 1, 2018 at Tin Can Port, Apapa, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did fraudulently obtain the sum of N10,620,000 property of one Mohammed Idris under the pretence that you had 45,000 litres of kerosene to be supplied, knowing it was false.
“That you, Abdullahi Yakubu, Victor Kalu and others now at large, on the same date, time and place, in the aforementioned magisterial district, did fraudulently obtain the sum of N280,000, property of one Mohammed Idris, under false pretences that the money was meant for hiring a truck, knowing it was false.”
The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges and elected summary trial.
They were admitted to bail in the sum of N600,000 each with two sureties each in like sum while the matter was adjourned till January 23, 2019 for mention.
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