Slot Driver Hit Roadblock after Theft of N5.95M Phone

Fast move by a driver, who allegedly tried to run away with laptops and mobile phones worth N5.95million, has been blocked by the Rapid Response Squad (RRS).

Forty-two-year-old Olumide Babajide, who hails from Kwara State, had spent barely two months as a driver with Slot Nigeria Ltd, when he was asked to convey the goods from Ikeja to Victoria Island in Lagos, but ended up almost a thousand kilometres away from the destination.

Newsmakersng learnt from the RRS, led by ACP Tunji Disu, that Babajide was tracked and arrested in Kaduna State.

Thinking he had made it, Babajide had started living big and acting like a philanthropist.

After his arrest, he told the police how he dashed out about 10 mobile phones to passers-by; gave two phones to a new mistress, bought a Peugeot 206, 1999 model with new registration number DKA 859 KA for N912, 000, and a 32-inch Samsung LCD TV while staying in a hotel in Kaduna.

According to the police, the driver was engaged in March, 2017, and he was directed to move the consignment to Slot Outlet in Victoria Island, Lagos on May 2, 2017, when the incident happened.

Babajide, a father of three, who holds a diploma in Computer Science, spoke in police custody.

He said, “I took the goods from Slot’s outlet in Ikeja. I was to deliver it to another outlet in Victoria Island, Lagos, but, instead I took the goods to Pam-Pam Hotel, Ikeja, while I returned the company’s Hilux car to R & S hotel, where we normally park the company’s vehicles.

“This wasn’t the first time I would be moving laptops, mobile phones and their accessories from one outlet to the other. Since I joined the company in March and I was assigned the job of a delivery man, it had been my idea to divert the goods and abscond.

“As soon as it was 5p.m. that very day, I took a drop from the hotel with the consignment to Ejigbo, where I boarded a Kaduna bound bus… Before I got to Kaduna, I already contacted one of the buyers. She bought N1.4 million worth of phones, laptops and phone accessories while I also sold in unit to some other buyers as well.”

According to the RRS, goods worth N4, 654, 224 were recovered from the suspect.

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