Two men get N500,000 bail for N4,800 crime

An Oshodi Magistrates’ Court in Lagos State on Friday slammed a N500,000 bail each on two employees alleged to have stolen 30 litres of diesel valued at N4,800.

The magistrate, Mr Akeem Fashola, granted the accused, Oluwole Akingun, 37, and Kolawole Salami, 27, bail after they had pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and stealing.

Fashola ordered that each of the accused persons should produce a surety each also, as part of their bail conditions. He adjourned the case till June 26, for mention.

The first accused, Oluwole Akingun  resides at No. 11 Baale Close, Ifako, Gbagada, Lagos State; while the other, Kolawole Salami resides at 10 Abiola Street, Agbado Crossing, Lagos State.

Earlier, the prosecutor, Cpl. Kehinde Olatunde, told the court that the accused committed the offences on May 27 at Plot D, Industrial Avenue, Ilupeju, Lagos State.

He said that the accused, being a staff driver and motor boy to a vehicle with registration number APP 702XD, stole 30 litres of diesel valued at N4,800 property of Arbico Company.

“The accused conspired to steal 30 litres of diesel from their vehicle’s diesel tank,” he said

Olatunde said that the accused were assigned an official vehicle to take them on an official assignment to Port-Harcourt, Rivers State.

“The vehicle had a full tank of diesel when it left Lagos, which was meant to take the accused to Port Harcourt and bring them back to Lagos,” he said.

“The company’s management discovered that the accused stopped the vehicle at Ibafo, Ogun, and allegedly siphoned 30 litres of diesel from its tank and sold it. The management discovered the accused persons act through the tracking devices installed inside the vehicle, which recorded that the vehicle stopped at Ibafo at 12:00 noon on their return journey to Lagos.”

The prosecutor told the court that the accused confessed to selling the diesel at the rate of N4, 800 in Ibafo, Ogun.

According to Olatunde, the offences contravened Sections 285 and 410 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011 and a three-year jail term is prescribed as penalty for convicted offenders.

NAN