Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Henry Owen
Abuja, Nigeria — The Nigeria Police Force has recorded a significant breakthrough in its ongoing fight against transnational organized crime with the recovery and repatriation of two luxury vehicles stolen from the Netherlands and illegally shipped into Nigeria.
Operatives of the INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB), Abuja, in collaboration with INTERPOL NCB The Hague, successfully traced and recovered the vehicles — a Toyota C-HR (2020 model) and a Toyota RAV4 (2019 model) — from different locations in Lagos and Akwa Ibom States.
Investigations revealed that both vehicles were stolen from Amsterdam and Midden-Nederland, then smuggled into Nigeria through the Port of Antwerp, Belgium, before arriving Apapa, Lagos, in late 2023.
Following the recovery, the Nigeria Police Force, through INTERPOL NCB Abuja, initiated civil forfeiture proceedings at the Federal High Court, Abuja. After a full legal process, the court granted a final forfeiture order in favour of the Government of the Netherlands, represented by the vehicles’ insurance company — paving the way for their official repatriation.
On October 20, 2025, the recovered vehicles were formally handed over to representatives of the Dutch insurance company and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Nigeria, marking the conclusion of the successful cross-border restitution operation.
The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, Ph.D., NPM, praised the INTERPOL team in Abuja for their professionalism and seamless collaboration with international partners. He emphasized that the operation underscores the Force’s dedication to global law enforcement cooperation and its determination to dismantle criminal networks involved in cross-border vehicle theft and smuggling.
He further reaffirmed the Force’s commitment to intelligence-led policing and enhanced international cooperation to combat all forms of transnational organized crime.
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