Three arraigned for stealing N2m phones from crash scene

The Lagos State Police Command has begun the process of arraigning three suspects arrested in the Ikeja area of the state for attempting to steal the mobile phones of some accident victims.

This was disclosed in a statement by the Rapid Response Squad of the command and shared on its Facebook page on Thursday.

The statement noted that the three suspects, Isaiah Adegbenro, Edet Johnson, and Efe Sowemimo, were arrested on Wednesday by an RRS team on a routine patrol while ransacking a vehicle involved in an accident.

It read, “Operatives of the Rapid Response Squad yesterday (Wednesday) night arrested three suspected thieves for stealing two phones from accident victims on Governor’s Road, Alausa, Ikeja.

“The suspects: Isaiah Adegbenro (38), Edet Johnson (30) and Efe Sowemimo (28), were arrested a few metres away from the accident point while trying to escape with the phones.”

It added that the driver of the accident vehicle had run into a road divider after losing control and rather than the suspects assisting the victims, they resorted to stealing their mobile phones which included two iPhones valued at N1,920,000.

“The accident victims were heading towards Ikeja in a red Toyota Camry 2010 when the driver lost control of the vehicle and rammed into a road divider in front of Adeyemi Bero end of Governor Road, Alausa, Ikeja.

“The three suspects who were close to the scene when the accident happened, rather than assist the driver and the occupants out of the badly damaged vehicle, were ransacking the victims’ pockets and vehicle. Stolen from the accident victims were: an iPhone 15, valued at N1,300,000:00 and an iPhone 12 worth N620,000:00.

“The RRS operatives who were patrolling the area, when alerted about the actions of the fleeing suspects, pursued them and recovered the two iPhones from their pockets.”

Upon the suspects’ arrest, they were said to have confessed to the crime which prompted the RRS commander, Shola Jejeloye, to order immediate commencement of their trial.

“The operatives assisted the victims to the hospital and also removed the vehicle from obstruction.

“The suspects have made significant confessions. They are to be charged to court today in line with the directives of commander, Rapid Response Squad, CSP Shola Jejeloye,” the statement concluded.

According to Metro reported on March 18 that two notorious traffic robbers, identified as Olumide Oladiji and Lekan Ibrahim, were arrested in the Agungi Lekki area of the state.

A police source had told our correspondent that the suspected robbers posed as beggars on the expressway to steal from motorists plying the road.

The source added that the culprits forcibly retrieved the victim’s phone and gold necklace, adding that the victim alerted the patrol personnel of the Ilasan division stationed at the Jakande roundabout, leading to their arrest.