Operatives of the Enugu Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have arrested a 30-year-old businessman, Onwughalu Chikodi Godwin, for allegedly stealing vegetable oil worth N30,853,800.00 (thirty million, eight hundred and fifty-three thousand, eight hundred naira) belonging to a company, Bro-kenn Agro Allied Industries.
The company, into refining and processing of vegetable oil, alleged that Godwin, a major customer of the company, conspired with others at large to defraud the company of the said sum, being the value of oil stolen from the factory between January 9, 2024, and May 26, 2025.
The counsel to the company, Dr Mazi Udegbulem, said the suspect and his cohorts fraudulently manipulated the refinery’s weighbridge system to facilitate and conceal their unlawful activities. “They filled jerry cans with water to manipulate weighbridge readings, drained the water at the refinery and refilled the jerry cans with stolen vegetable oil.
““The company’s practice is that any vehicle coming to lift oil paid for by a customer must be inspected at the company’s entrance and have its weight ascertained at the weighbridge. The vehicle is weighed, and the weight recorded. Oil is then loaded, and the vehicle is returned to the weighbridge to determine the weight after loading. “The net weight, which is the value of the oil loaded in the vehicle, will be the difference between the empty vehicle without oil and when oil is loaded into it,” he said.
Udegbulem further said that sometime in May 2025, the company discovered the fraudulent scheme being perpetuated by the suspect and his cohorts, and one month after, the suspect visited the company with his Sienna bus loaded with 115 gallons of empty jerry cans, out of which 40 jerry cans were filled with water. The suspect is said to have paid for one tonne of oil to fill 63 gallons, or 18 litres.
“Godwin knew that 115 gallons would be too much for the one tonne of oil he paid for, but he added the extra gallons because he already had a plan to steal oil from the factory. “We will use the extra 52 gallons to carry the stolen oil,” he said.
That day, he said, 40 gallons out of 115 had been filled with water, and it manipulated the weighbridge and was allowed to pass and load oil. “The vehicle was searched, as the company was already on red alert, and the said 40 gallons were found to be filled with water. “The difference between the first weight when it had 40 gallons of water and the second weight of the same vehicle when the water was removed was 960 kg, which was the exact weight meant to dupe the company,” it said.
The market value of 960kg of oil then was N2,496,000.00, and this is approximately what the company loses on each trip. Godwin visited the factory to buy oil between January 2024 and May 2025,” he said.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect and his cohorts gained the confidence and trust of the company and allegedly exploited that trust with the intent to defraud it.
The suspect will be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.
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