A casual worker, Johnson Adebowale, has been arrested by operatives of the Lagos State Police Command for allegedly stealing 28 television sets on Victoria Island.
PUNCH Metro learnt that 45-year-old Adebowale took the items shortly after he was sacked by his employers, Atlantic Exhibition Nigeria Limited.
It was learnt that the suspect sneaked into the store where the company kept some electronics gadgets and loaded 28 television sets into a truck he brought for the mission.
He was said to have transported the stolen TV sets to his home in the Ibafo area of Ogun State.
Our correspondent gathered that policemen from the Victoria Island Police Division, who got information that the suspect was selling the items at cheap prices, swooped on him and recovered some of the stolen items.
A police source said the suspect had already sold some of the TV sets to people in the neighbourhood by the time he was nabbed.
He said, “The affected company is into exhibition of products. They were in partnership with a hotel on the Lagos Island where the electronics products were displayed. The electronics were usually kept in a store, which was constructed by the suspect. So, he knew his way round the store.
“On August 6, after he had been sacked by the firm, he sneaked into the store and loaded 28 LG Plasma TV sets inside a truck and drove away with them.
“By Monday, the company discovered that the television sets were gone and a complaint was lodged at the Victoria Island Police Station.”
Another source explained that footages from the Closed Circuit Television cameras were useless to the detectives.
He said it was not until the operatives got information that the suspect was selling the TV sets that the police got a break.
“We mobilised and swooped on him. We discovered that he turned his house into an electronic shop and was selling the television sets, claiming that he was a TV manufacturer’s agent.
“He had already sold six for N50,000 each. The market value for each of the TV sets is between N130,000 and N200,000. We recovered the rest from him,” he added.
The Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, confirmed the incident, adding that the suspect had been charged to court.
She said, “The suspect, Adebowale, was nabbed after the Victoria Island Police Division received a complaint from Atlantic Exhibition Nigeria Limited that 28 TV sets were carted away by unknown person(s).
“Upon receipt of the report, the Divisional Police Officer, CSP Segun Ajamolaya, and his team trailed and arrested him from his hideout in Ibafo. The exhibits were recovered from him while effort is on to recover the ones already sold by the suspect. He was charged to court today (Monday).”
PUNCH NG
