Operatives of Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Lagos State Police Command have arrested a cable theft syndicate who specialise in vandalising government and private company’s cable in different parts of the metropolis.
The officers also recovered 168-metre long cable which the suspects stole at the same point in the previous weeks as well as two sledgehammers and a green Volkswagen Passat wagon with the registration number LSR 664 CW.
The six suspects were arrested on Friday when men of the Decoy Team of Rapid Response Squad acting on a tip-off ambushed the suspects on Third Mainland Bridge, Lagos where they were billed to operate around midnight.
The syndicate, in the absence of its ringleader, identified as Kingsley, an ex-convict, was led by a 29-year-old Henry Akpan, a security guard manning the cable.
According to Akpan, he was invited to join the syndicate by Kingsley after returning from the prison.
His words: “I am the one that arrested Kingsley and handed him over to the police, which led to his conviction and imprisonment. When he came back from Kirikiri Prison, he came to see me. He told me that can he come back and work in the place?
“By this time, the company I was working for had disengaged me. Out of the four years I worked for them, they only paid me for four months. Eventually, they said thieves were still stealing cable and because of this, they laid me off.”
He went further: “I colluded with him. I offered to provide him with security while he breaks into the tunnel of the Third Mainland Bridge median to cut the cables.
“We normally operate late in the night. I do the surveillance while he cut the cable and roll it out. Once the deed is done, and he is out. I collect my money and walk away from the scene.
“For the first operation, Kingsley paid me N40,000. For the second, I got N15,000. The third, N20,000 and so on. I don’t know the length of cables involved in every operation,” he added.
While Kingsley is on the run, other members of the syndicate arrested include Sunday Joseph, Obinna Nnabuenyi, Henry Owuama, John Chinedu and Francis Fidelis.
Also arrested were Sunday Francis and Simeon Ezeh, two regular buyers of the stolen cable, while 168-metre long cable stolen in the previous week before the arrest were recovered from the duo.
According to Simeon Eze, a 57-year-old cable dealer at Alaba International Market from whom 30 and 40-metre long cable were recovered, “I bought the two separate cable a week and previous week ago from the syndicate at the rate of N50,000 and N60,000 respectively. The cable is 25mm aluminum and I bought them at N700 per yard from them.
Meanwhile, the State’s Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgal, has directed all those involved in cable theft around the state be arrested and the case transferred immediately for thorough investigation and prosecution just as he vowed to go all out to arrests vandals and dealers still involved in the act.
The suspects along with exhibits recovered from them have been transferred to the SCID for further investigation and arrests.
