Photo: The N55m Mercedes Benz 4WD
Car ‘buyer’ absconds with dealer’s N55m Benz while test-driving
A prospective car ‘buyer’, whose name was simply given as Henry, has allegedly absconded with a Mercedes Benz GLB 250 Jeep belonging to a car dealer, Mohammed Manga, in the Abuja area of the Federal Capital Territory.
Narrating his ordeal to newsmen, Manga said that a yet-to-be-identified friend who is also into the business of selling cars visited his office in Abuja and requested to take the vehicle worth over N55m to a potential customer interested in purchasing it.
Manga said that after taking the vehicle to the customer who introduced himself as Henry, his friend told him that after negotiations, Henry requested a test drive and was accompanied by his friend.
He said that his friend was with Henry while he was test-driving the vehicle, adding that things took another turn when his friend informed Henry that he wanted to withdraw money from a Point of Sale operator to purchase fuel for the vehicle at a filling station.
“A friend of mine called me to tell me that he wanted to take my Mercedes Benz GLB 250 to a customer. He took the car to his office and the customer came there.
“He said that the customer introduced himself as Henry from Gwarinpa and that he saw the car on an online marketplace.
“He saw the car and said he liked it; they negotiated N55m for the car and he said OK and demanded test driving the car.
“He drove the car with my friend sitting on the passenger side of the vehicle and they drove out to the filling station opposite the automatic car wash in Garki to buy petrol before the test drive.
“But immediately my friend stepped out of the car at the filling station to withdraw money from the PoS operator to buy fuel, the guy zoomed off with the vehicle.
“You know how it is, there’s no traffic, no hold up in Abuja and that’s how he absconded with the car,” he narrated.
Manga said that he reported the incident to the Anti-Car Theft Unit of the FCT police command, adding that the stolen car is grey, with a mileage of 19000.
When contacted, the FCT Police Public Relations Officer, Josephine Ameh, simply said, “The police are already tracking the suspect (Henry).”
