The vehicle was reportedly towed away unawares to the driver, who left it at Sagamu Interchange in Ogun State, where it developed mechanical faults.
A 47-year-old hotelier, Paul Niwa, and one other, Michael Odunayo, have both been arrested after men of the Ogun Police Command, traced a stolen bus belonging to A&G Logistics Transport Company, to A-Z Hotel at Elediye village in the Sagamu area of the state.
In a statement in which the duo’s arrest was disclosed, Ogun Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Abimbola Oyeyemi said the vehicle was traced after one Kazeem Anifowose complained to the Ewu-Oliwo Divisional Police Headquarters, Sagamu.
“The complainant said he is the driver in charge of a T4 Volkswagen bus with number plate AAB 22 XB, and that while driving the said vehicle from Abeokuta towards Sagamu at about 1 am, the vehicle developed a mechanical fault at the Sagamu interchange, which made him park it by the roadside to come with a mechanic in the morning to fix it.
“But surprisingly, when he got to the scene the following morning, the bus was no longer there, and all efforts to find it proved abortive,” the statement quoted Oyeyemi as saying.
He stressed that by the time the detectives, who embarked on a technical and intelligence-based investigation, traced the missing vehicle to the compound of A-Z Hotel, they found it butchered into pieces, and ready to be sold in parts.
The police spokesman added, “The owner of the hotel, Paul Niwa, was there and was then promptly arrested and taken to custody.
“His arrest led to the apprehension of the second suspect, 27-year-old Michael Odunayo.
“On interrogation, Michael Odunayo confessed to the police that it was himself and one Eri Adeyemi, who is now at large, that towed the vehicle away from where it was parked at about 2 am and took it to Paul Niwa, who happened to be a regular buyer of such stolen vehicles and he bought it at the rate of N300, 000.”
The acting state Commissioner of Police, DCP Babakura Muhammed, had ordered the immediate transfer of the suspects to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID)for further investigation.
