I have shamed my wife and two young children – Driver

It was a flawless plan and nothing could go wrong, 42-year-old Idowu Jimoh had thought.

The fair complexioned trailer driver, whose cool mien belied the criminal plan that was supposed to make him a millionaire, probably was already dreaming of driving the car he intended to use the N5m proceeds of his alleged crime to buy.

But that was not to be.

Jimoh did not waste time putting his plan together when he got a job as a driver for trailers transporting Nestle products from Ota in Ogun State to other parts of the country.

He got the job just four months ago but Jimoh said long before then, he had already heard of how trailer drivers make so much money diverting the goods of the companies they work for.

But he seemed to realise that his plan would not work if his motor-boy was not on board.

“I personally contracted Godwin Emeka, because I knew him from a place I had worked before in Awka, Anambra State. I knew things were hard for him and he would not have any problem agreeing to the plan.”

Twenty two-year-old Emeka would later explain that he was indeed in a very bad situation economically and thought the money from the deal would help his family.

One would have thought that Jimoh simply wanted to sell off the products and run away. But the plan seemed to be more sophisticated than that.

“You don’t run away when you divert a product,” he said assuredly. But how does one make a whole trailer-load of goods disappear? “You simply go back to the company and tell them you had an accident,”Jimoh explained.

Jimoh said he contacted a friend, who had once diverted a company’s products, which he was supposed to deliver to another location.

Unfortunately for him, the friend he contacted was a police informant.

A Special Anti-Robbery Squad operative of the Ogun State Police Command, who was part of the sting operation that nabbed Jimoh told our correspondent, “The informant was arrested when he also diverted some products and was sent to jail. But he was reformed from prison and became our informant. As soon as he (Jimoh) contacted him, he called us.”

Jimoh’s ‘experienced’ friend told him that he had located a buyer, who would later turn out to be a SARS undercover operative.

The negotiation went back and forth, the police said. Driver and buyer communicated regularly, enabling the police to put in place a web of network in which Jimoh was caught.

The goods were destined for Suleja area of Abuja but he was apprehended along with his motor-boy by SARS operatives around Ibara Orile area of Ogun State where he was supposed to link up with his buyer.

He told our correspondent, “Other drivers have been doing it. I did not think there was any way I would be caught. When I sell off the goods, I intended to leave just a little in the trailer, then crash the vehicle to fake an accident.

“My intention was to tell them at work that robbers had looted most of the goods if I was asked where the goods in the truck were. I would have used the money to buy a car and do some other things for my family.”

Jimoh insisted that the devil and his greed pushed him into the crime. He was droopy-eyed and said he was sorry for his crime. “I have shamed my wife and two young children.”

For Emeka (Jimoh’s motorboy), he could only rue the day he met his boss. “I just wanted to help my family. I did not want to go along with his plan but he convinced me, telling me that nothing would go wrong.” The young man was on the verge of breaking down.

Emeka plaintively explained how, he was expecting to get between N1m and N1.2m from the deal after Jimoh told him that the goods were to be sold for N5m.

But Jimoh said that even though he did not tell his motor-boy how much he was going to pay him, he planned to pay him N1.5m after the goods were sold.

“Please, help me to plead with the police. Going to jail will destroy my father because I am the only son. My family in Awka is really poor. I would have used part of the money to buy a tricycle for my father.”

Spokesperson for the Ogun State Police Command, Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi, who commended the SARS operatives who carried out the operation in which the suspects were apprehended, said the police has been liaising with Nestle to determine what could be done about the goods in case some of them are perishable.

“The SARS in Ogun State are known for professionalism and this case attests to the fact that the squad has been doing really well. The goods will be handed over to the owner soon,” he said.