Police Hand Over Stolen SUV To Owner Five Years After Theft

The Gombe State Police Command has officially handed over a recovered Toyota Highlander to its rightful owner, nearly five years after it was stolen in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

The official handover ceremony took place on Friday, July 24, 2026, at the Police Command Headquarters in Gombe, marking the conclusion of an extensive inter-state tracking operation.

The operational breakthrough occurred on June 8, 2026, when operatives of the State Intelligence Department (SID), working in close collaboration with the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), intercepted the vehicle during a routine data verification exercise at the Gombe State Internal Revenue Service Vehicle Licensing Office.

Detailed forensic and intelligence investigations subsequently confirmed the legitimate owner of the SUV.

Unraveling the complex trajectory of the stolen vehicle, police findings revealed that following its theft in September 2021, the SUV was smuggled across international borders into the Republic of Niger in 2023.

The vehicle was said to have re-entered Nigeria through the Illela border in Sokoto State in October 2025.

It was subsequently moved to Kaduna State, where it was illegally resold, before the new buyer brought it to Gombe State for re-registration—where alert security officers detected the anomaly.

“Investigation into the circumstances surrounding the theft and subsequent cross-border movement of the vehicle remains active and ongoing to ensure all perpetrators in the syndicate are brought to justice,” security officials noted.

Receiving the keys to her vehicle, the owner expressed gratitude to the Gombe State Police Command, the State Intelligence Department, and the FRSC for their professionalism, persistence, and effective inter-agency coordination that led to the recovery of her asset five years after its loss.