Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Enugu Zonal Directorate, have arrested a 30-year-old businessman, Onwughalu Chikodi Godwin, over his alleged involvement in the theft of vegetable oil valued at more than ₦30.8 million from Bro-kenn Agro Allied Industries.
The anti-graft agency said the suspect is being investigated for allegedly conspiring with others still at large to fraudulently divert vegetable oil belonging to the company between January 2024 and May 2025.
According to the company, which is engaged in the refining and processing of vegetable oil, Godwin was one of its regular customers and allegedly exploited that relationship to perpetrate the fraud.
Counsel to the company, Dr. Mazi Udegbulem, alleged that the suspect and his accomplices manipulated the factory’s weighbridge system to conceal the theft.
He explained that the company’s loading process requires every vehicle to be weighed before and after loading to determine the exact quantity of oil collected. The difference between the two measurements represents the volume of product supplied to the customer.
According to the company, the suspects allegedly filled several jerry cans with water before arriving at the factory to artificially increase the vehicle’s initial weight. After entering the premises, the water was reportedly emptied and replaced with stolen vegetable oil, enabling the suspects to remove quantities of oil that had not been paid for without significantly altering the final weight recorded by the weighbridge.
The alleged scheme was uncovered in May 2025 after the company began suspecting irregularities in its loading operations.
Investigators said the suspect later arrived at the factory in a Sienna vehicle carrying 115 empty jerry cans despite having paid for only one metric tonne of vegetable oil, an amount expected to fill just 63 containers.
According to the company, an inspection revealed that 40 of the extra jerry cans had been filled with water in what it described as an attempt to manipulate the weighbridge readings.
The company estimated that the weight difference created by the water amounted to about 960 kilograms, equivalent to vegetable oil valued at approximately ₦2.5 million at the time.
It further alleged that similar methods were used during multiple visits to the factory over a period of more than one year, resulting in cumulative losses estimated at ₦30,853,800.
The EFCC said preliminary findings suggest that the suspect and his alleged accomplices gained the confidence of the company before exploiting its operational processes to carry out the fraud.
The Commission added that investigations are ongoing and that the suspect will be charged to court upon the conclusion of its inquiry.
