I Didn’t Engage In Carjacking , I Only Drove Mercedes Benz Car From Abuja To Delta Without Owner’s Consent-Suspect
25-year-old Meshach Isinugo a.k.a Big Shark, has clarified that he did not engage in carjacking or have the intention of stealing a Mercedes Benz car from an Abuja-based car dealer as widely reported.
Mohammed Manga, an Abuja-based car dealer, had reported that a customer left with one of his cars, a Mercedes Benz GLB 250 car valued at N55m after telling him he wanted to test drive it.
Team@orientactualmags.com learned that Big Shark has however explained that he only drove the car from Abuja to Delta state without Mohammed’s consent.
‘Armed with available intelligence, cops attached to the CP Decoy Squad stormed Ughelli town at about 0115hours (1:15 am) of 3/7/2023 and recovered the said Mercedes Benz abandoned in a bush along Oteri Road by Doctors Quarters Ughelli North Local Government’ the state Commissioner of Police, Wale Abass, had submitted during a press briefing.
He added that before the suspect was arrested, the command had received a complaint from a car dealer in Abuja, on July 3 that a vehicle, a Mercedes Benz car 2021 model, was stolen by Big Shark who disguised as an intending buyer. The dealer told the police that the suspect went away with the said vehicle while test driving it on June 30.
‘I’m from Ughelli in Delta state, but I live in Abuja. I’m into foreign exchange and bureau de change business. I have been doing this since when I was seven years old. I started along that line when I was in secondary school. My business is at Istanbul Airport, Turkey, so I used to shuttle between there and Nigeria. I started it there in 2021. I returned from Istanbul in May after the general election.
I was arrested on July 6 for car theft after I was tracked by the police. Actually, I moved the car from Abuja to Delta state.
I didn’t steal the car, but it is not mine. What happened was that I got the owner’s contact from an online platform (name withheld). He posted the car’s picture on the platform, putting it up for sale. When I called him to indicate interest, he told me to come for the car inspection. He was also Abuja-based and the location he invited me to is in Garki.
I saw the car, and the intending seller put the price at N58 million. I offered to pay N30 million and he said I should test-drive it so that I would know the value of what I was pricing. He gave me the car keys and sat in the passenger’s seat.
When we got to a filling station, he asked me to pull over as he needed to buy fuel. He told me to wait so that he would go and get some cash to buy the fuel. I waited for his return for three hours but he was nowhere to be found, and I was already causing a queue at the filling station. I called his line several times but it was switched off. It was already dusk so I drove to my residence at almost 8 pm. My phone had gone flat then, so I charged it when I got home and called him again. His line was switched off.
The following day, I drove down to Delta for a business. That same day, I saw my picture that he posted on the internet, calling me a car thief. His call also came in and he told me he had informed the police and they were tracking the car. This made me to be mad at him. It was crazy. I switched off my line known to him and started using my other line.
My uncle saw me with the car and he asked me about it. I told him how the car came by and he got mad and slapped me. He said he would not allow me to drive the car but would report it at a police station. I ran away from him because he assaulted me. I was eventually arrested in Benin, Edo state. I didn’t steal the car, I only drove it from Abuja to Delta. If I were the car dealer, I would just look for a way to get the car back. That would work’ Big Shark said.
Delta state police command noted that the suspect had since been transferred to Abuja-Team@orientactualmags.com
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