A man, named Cletus Onwe, suspected to have duped many unsuspecting customers of inter-state transporters – Peace Mass Transit, has been arrested by agents of the Department of State Security, DSS, in Uyo, Akwa Ibom,State capital.
DSS operatives had discretly monitored the suspect, Onwe, who claimed he hailed from Ebonyi State, following complaints from PMT that several of its customers had been duped by the suspect who regularly posed as logistics staff of the company, diverted parcels meant for dispatch to various destinations, after additionally ripping off owners of huge sums of money supposedly as official charges.
Confirmed reports indicated his modus operandi included infiltrating PMT depots in different locations across the country, taking photographs of himself in the general areas, and posting same online, ostensibly to give impression to victims that he was a genuine PMT logistics staff.
It has not been determined how long he had been involved in this scam, or how much victims had lost to him in cash and valuables, but those are estimated to be in several millions of Naira.
Following credible intelligence, he was subsequently tracked to the Akwa Ibom State capital where he was eventually apprehended by detectives last week.
It is not yet clear whether he acted alone or belonged to any criminal gang.
General Manager of PMT, Nnamdi Asadu, said arrest of Onwe was a welcome relief to the company while regretting that the suspect had done incalculable damage to the reputation of the company through his criminal enterprise.
” Several of our customers had lost money and valuables, having fallen prey to the antics of this unrepentant, unscrupulous person”, he lamented.
” We trust our staff and system as full proof,but complaints kept coming that some criminal imposter was infiltrating the system and acting without authority and actively sabotaging the system…
“This made us to go all out to track him and burst the criminal set-up”!
” Our valued customers are hereby assured that we shall do everything necessary to protect our name and the integrity we have invested so much to maintain since inception”, he assured.
After thorough investigations, the DSS is expected to transfer the suspect to the police for swift prosecution.
