I steal phones to survive – Suspect

• says my father failed to pay my school fees

By OKOSUN DENNIS

Two phone thieves arrested by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of Lagos State Police Command, at Oshodi have confessed that they resort to stealing from people to survive.

He explained that he joined the criminal gang because he was frustrated as his father refused to pay his N600 monthly school fees.

One of the suspects, Yusuph Ahmed, 19, from Offa, Kwara State, said that by stealing and dispossessing passers-by of their phones and other valuables, he and other teenagers are able to survive.

Confessing at the RRS headquarters in Alausa, Ikeja at the weekend, Ahmed, who was arrested in Oshodi last Friday, after dispossessing a passenger of his phone, stated that he sleeps in Oshodi under bridge with other teenagers from where they eke out a living by stealing phones and robbing passers-by of their valuables.

It was learnt that the suspect has been sleeping under Oshodi Bridge since he was 13 years. He explained that even though he doesn’t follow those that rob amongst them to operation all the time, he knows all of them.

He narrated that “I sleep in Oshodi under the Bridge. We are over 60 teenagers sleeping there. The adults sleep in Ori – Pako. I was 13 years old when I started sleeping there. I kept my clothes there.”

The teenager also added that “I sleep around

8pm or 9pm daily. There are some of us who do not sleep at all. They are the ones that alert us whenever the police was around. There are equally some who do not sleep because they go from one place to the other in Oshodi to rob. They rob late at night and very early in the morning.

“After the death of my mother, my father abandoned us. He stopped taking care of us leaving us to fend for ourselves. He even stopped paying the school fees which was N600 monthly. I had to resort to packing granite to pay the monthly N600 for school fee.

“At a point, I couldn’t cope with the fee. I was just 12years. I dropped out and I decided to run to Lagos from Ilorin. Since then, Oshodi under Bridge has been my home. Any phone I steal, I sell to Mohammed or Kudus. They are beggars in Oshodi. They buy most of the stolen phones from us,” Ahmed added.

However, one of the stolen phones, a Tecno Y6, was recovered from Ahmed’s brother.
The second suspect, identified as Yusuph Agbaje, 25, from Oyo State, was arrested in Agege for stealing a Blackberry curve from a commuter.

Responding to the development, the State Police Public Relations Officer, Superintendent of Police, Dolapo Badmos, said that the Police would leave no stone unturned in getting rid of criminal elements within the state.

She urged parents to monitor the activities of their wards adding that the suspects have been transferred to the Lagos State Task force on Environment for prosecution.