Chiemelie Ezeobi
An unrepentant suspect who had been arrested and charged for pick-pocketing and stealing in 2017 by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of Lagos State Police Command was again rearrested by the unit for similar offence. The suspect, Tunde Ajeigbe, 27-year-old, with two others, Ekene and Bolenbe, allegedly rode a motorcycle to 7Up area of Lagos State to rob unsuspecting members of the public.
Ajeigbe was said to have jumped down from the bike and snatched an android phone from a passenger travelling in a commercial bus and thereafter joined his cohorts on the bike and sped off. However, luck was against them as eyes witnesses who were at the scene of the crime gave them hot chase from that spot until they got to Otedola Bridge and alerted RRS men on pin down underneath the bridge. The policemen gave the fleeing suspects chase forcing them to abandon their motorcycle and made for the bush before Ajeigbe was arrested. The two others escaped.
In his statement, Ajeigbe confessed to have been arrested for similar offence sometime in 2017 and was charged to court for the crime.
He said: “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 November 19, 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 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.”
Both Ekene and Bolenbe are at large and the police are still on their trail but a motorcycle with registration number FST-279 QJ was recovered from the thieves while they escaped with the stolen phone.
Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, while warning all criminal elements in the state to stay off, he ordered that the case be transferred to the State Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) for further investigations.
