Police in Gombe have handed over a Toyota Highlander recovered in the state to its rightful owner, Mrs Cecilia A. Duru of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, nearly five years after the vehicle was stolen.
The vehicle was presented to its owner on Friday after police concluded investigations that confirmed her ownership.
State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Buhari Abdullahi, said in a statement that the SUV was recovered on June 8, 2026, by operatives of the State Intelligence Department (SID) in collaboration with officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps.
He said the vehicle 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.
Police said 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, after which it was sold in Kaduna State and eventually brought to Gombe for re-registration, leading to its recovery.
Police described the successful recovery and return of the vehicle as a demonstration to 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.
