One suspected pickpocket arrested at the Computer Village, Ikeja, Lagos, has admitted to operatives of the Lagos State Rapid Response Squad that his aggregate sum of daily income made from selling stone phones exceed #18,000; previous nation’s minimum wage benchmark.
The alleged, Lawal Daodu, 31, was arrested by Lagos Rapid Response Squad on Friday around 5pm when his plans foil as he made moves to secretly cart away a phone from pocket of a passerby under the bridge in Ikeja.
Daodu, who got caught in the process of removing another android phone from the pocket of another victim after he has successfully stolen two phones when the phone accidentally fell down and attracted the attention of its owner.
He was promptly arrested by RRS officers attached to the Armoured Personnel Carrier stationed at under the bridge in Ikeja.
As the suspect was being interrogated on the sources of the phones in his possession, one of his victims, who was trying to find out what was happening, saw his phone in Lawal’s hands.
Lawal, in his confession to the police, explained that he was operating at the Computer Village, Ikeja, and the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos Island.
The suspect stated, “On Friday, I was at the Computer Village as usual. I had stolen two phones in the morning, which I sold to my customers at the Computer Village.
“In the afternoon, I resumed to steal a few more phones. I was attempting to steal the third one when the owner raised the alarm, which attracted the attention of the RRS men. They arrested me and unfortunately, just as I was trying to prove my innocence, one of my victims identified his phone in my hands.
“I don’t operate every time. I go out at times twice in a week and I make at least N18,000 from stealing phones on the average. There were times I made more than that, especially, when I succeeded in stealing expensive phones.
“I started as a pickpocket in 2017 and I had never been arrested before now. I buy and sell clothes at the Computer Village. I resort to pickpocketing occasionally.