Automobile Heist (La Casa De l'Automobile)

The latest gist in the Nigerian automotive scene is that a Mercedes Benz SUV worth 55 million naira that was stolen from a dealership in Abuja about four days ago has been recovered in Asaba, Delta State. According to media sources, the culprit requested for a test drive of the car, which he was granted and then he proceeded to give the car a proper test drive of over 300miles.

The Stolen Vehicle

The car in question is a 2021 Mercedes Benz GLB 250. The GLB class is a new SUV line-up for Mercedes as it was first introduced in 2019. Prior to the GLB, buyers were left with only two options for a compact SUV from Mercedes which were the GLA and GLC class. The 2021 model which was stolen comes with a 2.0 Litre Inline 4 engine capable of producing about 221 horse power and 258 lb-ft torque. The starting price for this car is actually about $40,000 which should be about 20 million naira but coupled with exchange rate, shipping and many other Nigerian factors, this car is selling for 55 million naira.

2021 Mercedes Benz GLB 250

Now that we know the make and specs of the stolen car, the question is how come it was heisted?

1. Unsupervised Test Drives

Test drives are not an uncommon thing abroad but in Nigeria, in fact Africa this service is not readily available. In some countries, potential buyers of a car are giving a week to test drive a car before making a purchase but in Nigeria there are constraints. In this particular case, sources claim that the culprit was actually supervised but the so called supervisor went to quickly withdraw money from a POS station and that was how baba japa with the ride, lol. Quite a number of high end car dealers in Nigeria offer test drives at a cost but after this automobile heist, dealerships will definitely be more receptive to the idea.

2. Poor Road Security

When I first heard about this theft, the first thing that came to my mind was how the car was transported over 300 plus miles from Abuja to Asaba without the culprit getting caught. In a country famous for it's multiple police checkpoints on highways, how was he not flagged down by either the police, road safety or better still the custom officers. Coincidentally, I am born and bred in the city of Asaba, so I personally know how many stops I encounter on my way home from school in Osun state, so how did he do it? This question can only be answered by the culprit but I will give a wild guess, corruption! The culprit must have passed a dozen checkpoints and he simply bribed his way through but that is a story for another day.

 3. Lack of proper tracking devices

As a car dealer, please explain to me why you do not have proper tracking devices or better still, kill switches that can be operated remotely? I do not know the details of this heist, but I am guessing the culprit found a way to disable the tracker on the car because 4 days is quite a long time for a car to have gone missing and at that went cross country from Abuja to Asaba. After this heist, car dealers will at least learn to beef up their security because if this car was not recovered or was wrecked in the process of the heist, it would have been a massive loss.

In all honesty, I respect the culprit of the automobile heist because he is a sharp guy but crime does not pay. According to sources, he is still on the run. May the force be with him.

Thank you for reading and always remember to Turbo that engine!