A telephone thief, who was arrested with his
accomplice, has pleaded with the Police in
Lagos that his parents must not know that
he engaged in stealing. The suspected
thieves, Ufoma Asakpa, 22, and Augustine
Omedo, 20, have confessed to the crime
after their arrest with both accusing each
other of leading one another into the act.
The operatives of the Rapid Response Squad
(RRS) of Lagos State Police Command that
apprehended them alleged that they
specialised in stealing handsets and valuable
items. The Police said the suspects, who
burgle shops of innocent members of public
at Abule-Oja in Yaba, were arrested by the
Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Lagos
State Police Command on Oct. 13.
The RRS Commander, ACP Olatunji Disu,
told NAN that the thieves were arrested at
about 6.22 p.m. after they had successfully
stolen three handsets from a shop in the
area. According to him, the policemen on
patrol went after them when they received a
distress call about the incident. “Our
policemen who were on routine patrol
around Yaba axis got a distress call from
victims informing them that there were
thieves who robbed them of their valuables.
“The suspects took to their heels but the
policemen chased and caught them while
they attempted to mount a motorcycle,
popularly known as Okada. “The duo was
conveyed to the squad’s headquarters in
Alausa for interrogation,’’ he said According
to the ACP, investigation later revealed that
the suspects steal phones and other
valuable items from any shop they visited
after pretending to be customers.
“Upon completion of our preliminary
investigation, we discovered that the two
suspects specialised in stealing phones and
other valuable items under the pretence of
buying products from any shop they visited.
“The suspects confirmed that their tricks
was to disguise as buyers and once they
found out that the seller is sleeping or off
their sights, they will pick their phones,
money and other valuables,’’ Disu added.
Narrating their ordeal to NAN the duo
confessed to the crime, saying that poverty
lured them to take to stealing. One of them,
who hail from Ndokwa Local Government
Area in Delta State, told NAN that his parents
must not know that he was caught for
stealing. In his confessional statement, he
said: “I was a secondary school dropout. I
was unable to proceed to senior classes
after I failed Junior WAEC.
“My parents took me to my brother’s shop
to learn how to repair generators but I
couldn’t endure the period of apprenticeship.
“While looking for ways to earn quick
money, I met my partner who introduced me
to stealing. I joined him about 10 months
ago and the police never caught us. “In fact,
my parents must not know that I am a thief
because I leave home every day as if I was
going to work.
“I have regretted my actions for taking to
stealing for survival. It is the devil that
pushed me into it,’’ he said. His accomplice,
who lives at number 10, Kehinde Str,
Ajegunle, Lagos, regretted that bad friendship
lured him into stealing. “When I entered the
shop pretending to buy a sachet of water to
cook rice, I saw a phone charging in that
shop.
“I took the phone and switched it off
immediately. My partner had also gone to
another shop to steal phones too. “We had
successfully stolen those phones but
suddenly, we saw RRS men chasing us. “As
we were about to mount on our motorcycle,
we were crossed and arrested,’’ he said in
his confessional statement.
The two suspects revealed that they had
stolen about 70 phones this year and
identified their buyer simply as Alfa who
owns a shop at Boundary in Ajegunle. The
owner of the shop, Mr Oluwole Allen, who
followed them to the Police’s Headquarters,
said that he never had any inkling that the
two suspects were phone thieves when they
entered his shop.
“The two of them entered with the hope of
buying sachet water. I stood up to attend to
them unknowingly to me that one of them
had stolen my phone. “The other guy went
to another shop to do the same before he
was caught in the process. “Instantly, I
looked around to search for my phone and
could not find it. When we searched both of
them, I found my phone with one of them,’’
he said. The suspects have been transferred
to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of
the command for further investigation.
Comments
Post a Comment
Post your comment