Nigeria Police recover cars stolen from Netherlands
The Nigeria Police Force has announced the recovery of two high-end vehicles that were stolen in the Netherlands and shipped into Nigeria. The operation was disclosed by the Force’s spokesman, Benjamin Hundeyin, on October 20, 2025.
According to available information, the stolen vehicles comprised a 2020 Toyota C‑HR and a 2019 Toyota RAV4. They were traced to two separate locations: one in Lagos State and the other in Akwa Ibom State.
Investigators revealed that the vehicles had been stolen from Amsterdam and Midden-Nederland in the Netherlands. They were then transported through the Port of Antwerp in Belgium and arrived in Apapa Port, Lagos, in late 2023.
The Nigeria Police Force, acting through its INTERPOL National Central Bureau Abuja and in collaboration with INTERPOL NCB The Hague, instituted civil forfeiture proceedings at the Federal High Court, Abuja. The court granted a final forfeiture order in favour of the Government of the Netherlands, through the vehicles’ insurance company, thereby enabling lawful repatriation of the vehicles.
On October 20, 2025, the INTERPOL NCB Abuja team formally handed over the recovered vehicles to representatives of the insurance company and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Nigeria—marking the successful conclusion of the international recovery and restitution process.
The Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, commended the operatives for their professionalism and highlighted that this case reflects Nigeria’s commitment to global law-enforcement cooperation and intelligence-led policing of transnational organised crime.
This development is significant because it reminds us of the sophisticated nature of vehicle-theft syndicates that operate across continents. Previous research into organised crime has noted that stolen vehicles from the Netherlands and other European countries are sometimes exported to Africa, including Nigeria.
