BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
A 56-year-old man, Kunle Ibrahim, has been arrested by men of the Osun State Police Command for falsely claiming to be a staff of the state House of Assembly in a ploy to dupe a trader of goods worth N931, 000.
Ibrahim, a resident of Ibadan, Oyo State, was said to have hired a bus driver to Osogbo, to commit the offence.
The suspect, a police source said, went to shop 13, Akindeko Street, Osogbo, where he presented himself as a staff of the state House of Assembly, and reportedly bought 19 home theatre sound systems.
After the goods were loaded into the bus which he brought, he allegedly told the trader to follow him to the House of Assembly Complex to pick a cheque for payment for the goods.
The suspect was said to have claimed that the state lawmakers intended to procure the items in a bid to distribute them as Christmas gifts to their friends.
However, it was gathered that when Ibrahim got to the Assembly premises, he asked the trader to sit at the reception on the claim that he wanted to collect the cheque from the Speaker of the House.
According to a police source, the suspect sneaked out of the place from another direction and directed the driver to take him to Ibadan.
After waiting for several hours without seeing Ibrahim, the trader confirmed his whereabouts from the receptionist but to his surprise, he was said to be unknown at the complex.
The victim reported the development at the Oja-Oba Police Division in Osogbo.
Through the registration number of the vehicle with which Ibrahim carted away his goods, the police were said to have tracked the bus with the help of the Central Licensing Office, thereby leading to the suspect’s arrest in Ibadan.
Ibrahim and a 48-year-old Rasaq Abass, who allegedly received the stolen goods, were arraigned at an Osogbo Magistrate Court over allegations of conspiracy, stealing and unlawful reception of stolen items.
Police prosecutor, Adegoke Taiwo, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, told the court that the duo conspired to obtain, defraud and steal 19 home theatre sound systems valued at N931, 000, property of one Oladosu Adewale.
The prosecutor said that the offences were committed on September 4, 2021 at number 13, Akindeko Street, Osogbo and that “Ibrahim did receive 19 home theatre sound systems from one Oladosu Adewale with the pretence that you are a staff of the Osun State House of Assembly and to pay him by cheque on same date knowing same to be false.”
He said that Abass, at the same date, at number 2, opposite Gethsemane Church, Eleyele Ibadan, received the 19 electronic appliances, knowingly to be stolen items.
The duo were said to have committed offences contrary to and punishable under sections 516, 419, 390(9) and 427 of the Criminal Code, Cap 34, Volume II, Laws of Osun, 2002.
The defendants pleaded not guilty to the four count-charge levelled against them.
Magistrate A. A. Adebayo granted them bail in the sum of N1 million with one surety each in the same amount. He said that the sureties should be senior state civil servants, not below grade level 12 who must swear an affidavit of means.
The two defendants were not legally represented in court. They were both remanded at the Ilesa Correctional Centre after failing to meet their bail conditions.
