Truck drivers bag 4-year-jail for theft

A magistrate court sitting at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre has sentenced four Dangote truck drivers to one year imprisonment each for stealing 89 bags of cement.

The convicts – Ibrahim Nasiru, Sagir Mohammed, Suberu Musbau Mohammed and Mohammed Abdullah – who earlier pleaded not guilty, later changed their plea and pleaded guilty as charged.

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The four truck drivers loaded their trucks with Dangote cement from the cement plant at Igbese, in Ogun State.

The said cement was to be taken to Dangote Oil Refinery at Ibeju Lekki, Lagos State.

Ibrahim Nasiru,  driver of Sino truck with registration No. GWL 750 YJ with way bill No. 0465528 loaded cement with gross weight 53,480kg from Igbese but on getting to Dangote Oil Refinery, Ibeju Lekki only delivered 53, 400kg (a difference of 22 bags of cement). On his part, Sagir Mohammed loaded cement with gross weight of 54, 340kg but delivered 53, 430kg with a difference of 19 bags (i.e. 990kg) of cement.

Suberu Musbau Mohammed loaded 57,400kg gross weight of cement but on getting to Dangote Oil Refinery, Ibeju Lekki delivered 56,080kg i.e 26 bags of cement. While Mohammed Abdullah on his part loaded 53, 160kg gross weight of cement but had 52,040kg on getting to Dangote Oil Refinery Ibeju Lekki Lagos State.

When asked to explain the difference, the convicts had no explanation and were handed over to the Dangote Oil Refinery fleet officer and chief security officer who in turn handed them over to the police at the Lekki Free Trade Zone, Lagos.

In their plea for mercy, all the convicts apologised to the court and to Dangote and begged for forgiveness.

They told the court that they were all family men who could not meet up with their responsibilities as bread winners.

Mohammed Abdullah said, “I stole when my wife delivered and I did not have money.”

In his judgment, Magistrate Amore D. sentenced each of the truck drivers to one year jail term beginning from the date of their detention on January 9, 2020.