Determined to catch a suspected fraudster who has been elusive for months, detectives attached to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, Lagos State Police Command, dressed like mourners and attended the fleeing suspect’s mother’s burial ceremony in Anambra State.
The policemen did not only dress like mourners, they also made sure their clothes were Igbo styles.
While other mourners were weeping and chanting a dirge, the detectives were busy scrutinising faces, frantically searching for the suspect, a truck driver, called Mr. Azubuike Nwafor.
They sighted him sitting with some of his kin’s men. The detectives made a beeline for him. While pretending they came to commiserate with him, they asked him, “Are you Mr. Azubuike Nwafor who works with a company in Ago-Palace Way, Okota?”
He said yes and they slammed handcuffs on him. But for fate, Nwafor would have absconded to Malaysia, eluding arrest forever.
Investigation revealed that the police had been on the trail of 30-year-old Nwafor for months.
He allegedly defrauded his company by selling goods worth N7.2m for N1.2m. He disappeared with the money.
The hunt for Nwafor started after his company reported him to the police.
Nwafor, who is still single and lived at Surulere, Lagos State, attempted to explain how he landed in police custody.
According to him, he had been working with the company for four years and his salary was N30,000. He said that the issue of diverting the bags of fertiliser started last year.
His words: “When SARS operatives came to the ceremony, they asked for Azubuike. I identified myself. They asked me if I was the man who worked with a company in Ago-Palace Way, Okota. I said yes. I was sitting with my brother, Obinna Nwafor, during the ceremony.
“I’m a truck driver with the company. The company manufactures gas cookers, fridge, tiles and tyres. It also gives trucks out for hire. My work was to drive one of their trucks to different places. I had driven it to the North, Jos, Kano, Onitsha, Enugu, Port Harcourt, amongst other places.”
Recalling how he stole goods that were given to him and became a fugitive in September 13, 2013, Nwafor said: “The truck was loaded with 600 bags of fertilisers valued at N7.2m. A bag of fertiliser is about N8, 000. The trailer was loaded at Apapa Wharf, Lagos, bound for Jos, Plateau State. I was the one in possession of the way bill.
“My truck had a fault along Abuja-Okene Road. I got a mechanic named Ibrahim to check it. I did not know him before that time. He said he would need N120, 000 for the repair. He then suggested to me to sell the fertilisers to one Alhaji Sanni. I sold each bag for N2,000. There were 600 bags which made the sum N1.2 million. I abandoned the truck at Okene, collected the money and went back to Lagos.”
He lied to the company that the truck could not be repaired that he abandoned it along the road with the goods. After delivering his message to the shocked personnel, he went home and readied his luggage for immediate journey to east.
“I took the N1.2m to my hometown two days later. The journey and my eventual arrival at the village coincided with the time my mother was sick. I gave my siblings N100,000 out of the money to take her to a hospital.
I gave the money to our eldest brother, Nnamdi. When my mother eventually died this year June, I came back to Lagos,” said Nwafor.
He continued: “I met a friend named Collins who used to prepare papers for travel to Malaysia. I told him that I did a business involving fertilisers and got some money.
I told him that the worth was N1m. I asked him to prepare Malaysian visa for me. I gave him N800, 000 the first time. He later lied to me that I would need N150, 000 extra to process the visa proper.”
Praying that Collins wasn’t playing him, Nwafor raised the money. But two weeks after giving Collins the balance, the man simply vanished. He stopped picking Nwafor’s calls.
“Another friend of mine, Ugochukwu, revealed to me that Collins had travelled to Saudi Arabia. When I became broke, I went back to my village in Anambra State.
I regretted selling those bags of fertilisers. My boss was not happy with my actions. She had always been nice to me,” remembered Nwafor.