Suspected phone thief nabbed

Operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Lagos State Police Command have arrested an 18-year-old serial phone thief in Oshodi.

The suspect, Sadeeq Wasiu, who has been imprisoned seven times, was re-arrested in Oshodi on Tuesday after several months of being on the operatives’ wanted list.

Wasiu, alias ‘Omo Eiye’, as he is popularly called in Oshodi, was arrested at Oshodi Under Bridge while trying to escape after snatching an Infinix Note 3 from an undergraduate.

Before his arrest, Wasiu had been fingered to be the mastermind of four phone thefts and two bag snatching attempt in Oshodi and its environs.

Wasiu, who disclosed to interrogators that he was released from Potoki Prison, Badagry in January, 2017, said he ran away from Ikire, Osun State when he was 15 years old.

“I was 15 when I came to Lagos to work as a conductor in 2014. My parents are not aware I am in Lagos. My popular name is Eiye. I steal phones from people at Oshodi. We were three in my group. Others are Ahmed alias Oyi and Tombolo.

“We have stolen more than 45 phones as a group and I have stolen countless number of phones individually. I used to sell the phones at Idi Oro, Mushin. I sell the phone according to their make. I sell some N10,000 and N8,000. I have gone to jail seven times,” he confessed.

Confirming the arrest, the state’s Police Public Relations Officer, Dolapo Badmos, said the command would not rest on its oars in nipping in the bud criminal activities in the state.

The suspect has since been transferred to the Lagos State Taskforce in Oshodi for prosecution.