By Olumide Adeyinka
The
operatives of Lagos Rapid Response (RRS), a unit of the Lagos Police Command have
arrested a man, who specializes in buying stolen construction materials from
site workers in Lekki area of Lagos and reselling them.
The suspect, Hassan Abubakar, 32, was arrested while driving a white pick-up
van with a registration number KRD-474BQ loaded with 21 bags of cement at about
5:30a.m on Saturday by RRS officers on patrol of the area.
Hassan, when quizzed about how he got the 21 bags of cement lied he was a
haulage driver contracted by a civil engineer working in MTN Estate in Lekki
Phase 2 to help him convey the bags of cement from one construction site to
another.
The officers who were not satisfied with his explanation insisted Hassan called
the Site Manager to buttress his point. Sensing the game was up, he stopped
responding to further enquiries put to him by the officers.
Not convinced by the excuse, Hassan and the exhibits were handed over to the
Decoy Team of the RRS, where investigations revealed that the suspect, in
collusion with a site guard bought the stolen 21 bags cement at a construction
site in Lekki.
The security guard, Adamu Ibrahim, 43, disclosed to the police that he stole
the 21 bags of cement from the construction site, and that the owner of the
site was based United States.
Adamu further told the police that the owner of the site engaged him to live
there and man the site. He added that he had been selling the materials meant
for construction on the site to Hassan.
Adamu stated in his confessional statement that he began selling the site
construction materials immediately his boss travelled out of the country. He
added that his boss defaulted in paying his N25, 000 salary for about three
months, hence, in order to discharge his family obligations, he had to raise
money by selling the construction materials.
He stated, “I have spent all my little savings in buying cloth materials for my
wife during the Eid Fitri festival, so I am broke and I needed money to feed my
family which pushed me into selling the 21 bags of cement to Hassan who I know
specializes in buying stolen site materials in the area at the rate of N1,500
per bag on credit while he promised to pay me N31,500 by noon.
I invited Hassan to come see the cement and he agreed to come convey them in
the early hours of the next day. In the morning, he came around 4:30 a.m., and
he alongside Bukari Muhammad loaded the cement into his pick-up van and drove
off. “My boss is owing me N75,000 as salary arrears, I thought selling the
cement won’t be a bad idea as the move would help save them from getting
spoilt,” he added.
The suspects have been transferred to the State Criminal Investigations Department
(SCID), Panti, for further investigation.
