Police Return Stolen Toyota Highlander to Owner 5 Years After Theft*

The Gombe State Police Command has handed over a Toyota Highlander to its rightful owner, Mrs. Cecilia A. Duru of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, nearly five years after the vehicle was stolen.

The SUV was presented to its owner on Friday after police concluded investigations that confirmed her ownership.

In a statement, the Police Public Relations Officer in Gombe, DSP Buhari Abdullahi, said the vehicle was recovered on June 8, 2026, by operatives of the State Intelligence Department, SID, in collaboration with officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC.

He said the SUV was intercepted during a routine vehicle data verification exercise at the Gombe State Internal Revenue Service Vehicle Licensing Office, where discrepancies in its registration documents raised suspicion.

According to the police, investigations revealed that the Toyota Highlander was stolen in Rivers State on September 17, 2021, before it was smuggled to the Republic of Niger in 2023.

The command said the vehicle later re-entered Nigeria through the Illela border in Sokoto State in October 2025. It was then sold in Kaduna State and eventually brought to Gombe for re-registration, leading to its recovery.

The police described the successful recovery and return of the vehicle as proof of the effectiveness of intelligence-led policing and inter-agency collaboration in combating vehicle theft and related crimes.

The command said efforts were ongoing to track down and prosecute those responsible for stealing and illegally transporting the vehicle across international borders.

It also advised prospective vehicle buyers to verify the authenticity of ownership documents before purchasing any vehicle, and urged members of the public to report suspicious transactions promptly to security agencies.