Phone thief arrested in 2017, nabbed again for stealing

Operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Lagos State Police Command, have rearrested a suspect previously arrested for pickpocketing and stealing in 2017.

27-year-old Tunde Ajeigbe who embarked on a robbery mission with his accomplices Ekene and Bolenbe, was arrested after he jumped off a bike to snatch an android phone from a commercial bus passenger at 7UP area of the state.

The robbers were given a hot chase by residents of the community who also alerted the RRS operatives underneath Otedola bridge. Tunde was apprehended while two of his accomplices who abandoned their motorcycle escaped after also being given a hot chase by the police officers.

Confessing to the crime, the suspect recalled how he was arrested for a similar crime in 2017 by the police. He said in his confessional statement;

“I was arrested around Ojota after I snatched a lady’s phone and got caught by the police.

“I was remanded in the prison since then and was released on 19th of November 2019 but couldn’t go back to my wife and child. I went back to the house I rented before going to prison but couldn’t find my properties and my family again so I made for the street again.

“I went back to Oshodi under bridge to go join my friends again who gave me clothes to wear and bought me food before we went back into our usual job.

“Although, after spending some days in Mushin, some of my area brothers who knew I just came from prison helped me secure a motorcycle on hire purchase but that wasn’t enough for me as I wanted to make quick money to go see my mother in the village after leaving home for three years without seeing her.

“My aged mother would be worried after I left home without returning and no one knew my whereabouts as my wife never informed my family that I have been arrested and remanded in the prison. I, therefore, sought to steal again to raise some money but unfortunately I was caught.”

Lagos Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu who disclosed that the police has intensified its effort to arrest other members of the gang who escaped with the phone, ordered a transfer of the case to the Special Anti Robbery Squad for further investigations.