Mother luck may have run out of a man believed to specialize in phone theft and harassment of people doing businesses inside the Fibson Mall located along the major road in Wuse Zone 5 the FCT, when the aggrieved persons seized and tied his two hands to the back with cable wire.
One of the security personnel attached to the mall, (name withheld) stated that the alleged phone thief was among the ‘bad guys’ harassing and robbing people of their valuables including phones, bags and money, most time in the evening.
One of the business operators in the mall, Owolabi Daniel raised concern about the development and called on the security personnel working 8n the mall to be more vigilant and monitor the movement of persons in and out of the business location more closely.
While the alleged phone robber remains tied with his two hands to the back, a police officer from Wuse Divisional Headquarters was on hand to arrest and take the middle-aged offender to the station but could do not much as the owner of the stolen phone was said to have refused to submit the stolen item to the officer.
As calls for the arrest of the alleged criminal heightened, the police Sargent argued that not surrendering the phone in question would amount to a lack of evidence against the alleged thief.
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” I have been in the criminal investigation unit for a year, I know that without the phone as evidence, it is possible for the thief to be released later and he can turn around to get the human rights to contest his arrest at the police station. Without the evidence, I cannot take him to the station,” he said.
Meanwhile, those who caught and tied the alleged phone thief stated that there had been reported cases of theft of valuables and attack on persons inside the mall at different times, especially in the evening. They argued that part of the reasons the owner would not surrender the phone was to prevent the long process of following the matter up at the division.
And, as the officer insisted on evidence to be able to arrest the criminal, those concerned decided he should be allowed to go. On hearing that he should be allowed, the offender once thought to have lost strength based on the treatment meted out to him and the injuries on his mouth, surprised the crowd as he jumped to his feet and hopped along till he left the vicinity, even as some persons were seen exercising SA fears that his gang members might not only untie him but might come again to terrorize the area.
