The Special Protection Unit of the Lagos State Police Command has apprehended a 19-year-old bricklayer, Taiye Mufutau and a trader, Rabiu Mohamed, for allegedly stealing electric cables belonging to the Lagos State Electricity Board. The suspects were arrested around Eko Bridge on Tuesday after some of the company’s security guards spotted them.
The suspects were said to have fled into an electricity unit where one of them was nearly electrocuted. Mohammed, a 30-year-old man, said he had only stolen electric cables twice. He blamed his action on unemployment and unfavourable policies of the state government. He said, “I was a scavenger. I used to sell metal scrap which I conveyed with my wheel barrow. This is what I used to feed my wife and daughter.
“However, when the state government came up with a law banning street hawking and other similar jobs, task force operatives started disturbing me. They seized five wheel barrows from me. “When the trouble became too much, I couldn't get any other means of livelihood, I decided to start stealing electric cables. The first one I stole, I sold it for N4, 000.”
Mufutau attributed his involvement to greed, adding that Mohammed introduced him to the crime. The indigene of Kwara State said, “Mohammed called me around 4am that we should go and steal some cables around Eko Bridge. “I have never gone with him before but because he gave me N1,000 the last time he stole, I decided to follow him. We had not even finished our operation when security men started pursuing us. “As I ran into an electric unit, I was shocked by a naked wire. I almost lost my life.”
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