A suspected pickpocket arrested by the police has said that he has lost count of the number of people he robbed of their phones in Lagos.
Dapo Simeon, 27, told officers of the Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State Police Command that he started as a pickpocket over three years ago before graduating into robbery.
Mr. Simeon was arrested along with seven others for allegedly robbing passers-by in Ojota, Ketu, and Mile 12 at night, the police said in a statement on Sunday.
The suspect,a trained bricklayer from Oyo State, told the police that he specialised in stealing phones, jewellery and money.
“I can’t remember the number of phones I have stolen and collected from passers-by in Ojota, Ketu and Mile 12,” said Mr. Simeon.
“I was trained by Olasege and later Femi. Both of them are my bosses They live in Mushin, Idi – Oro area. They taught me the job. ”
“I sell all the phones I get at night or the previous day to Baba Iyabo. He comes to Down Blow area in Mile 12 to collect the phones and jewellery very early in the morning.”
Mr. Simeon and his colleagues were picked up on Thursday morning, according to the police, after two young women who were robbed the previous night at MKO Garden, near Ojota, reported to RRS monitors attached to the area .
Foramfera
The operatives followed the women to the scene of the robbery where they met two men, John Obinna and Sunday Ugwu.
The officers, after interviewing and searching the duo, saw suspected stolen phones and an unused sim card, which was traced to its original owner, Adebayo Ogunleye.
Mr. Ogunleye in his statement at the RRS Headquarters, Alausa, noted that he was waylaid by an assailant between Ojota and Mile 12.
According to him, the robber in trying to collect his two phones, macheted and head-butted him into surrendering his phones (Microsoft Lumia 535 & Tecno T5) and wallet containing BVN Card, First Bank verve card, and MasterCard among others.
“It was God’s intervention that I was not killed that night as I was struggling for survival, drinking my own blood before I was able to cross to the other side of the road and escape”, he said.
The arrest of Messrs Obinna and Ugwu by the operatives prompted the arrest of six other suspects, including Mr. Simeon, Chinonso Onnogo, Chuka Eze, Kadir Afolabi, Segun Pascal, and David Bassey.
They all confessed to have been robbing people at night in Ojota, Ketu and Mile 12, the police stated.
Dolapo Badmos, spokesperson of the Lagos State Police Command, said all the suspects confessed to the offence and they had given the police useful statement that would assist in their prosecution.
by ROTMANLUV 2023-07-08, 17:34
