Two security guards working at a house in
Ikeja GRA, have been arrested after breaking into their boss’ house through a
burglar-proof to steal hard currency and
electronics.
The suspects, Abu Abubakar and Hadi Isiaka,
indigenes of the same community in Kogi State, were employed through an agent,
to work as day and night guards at the home of the GRA-based businessman, who
frequently travels out of the country.
Isiaka, 30, had worked at the house for about
two years before Abu was employed by their boss who did not know they were
kinsmen.
24yrs old Abu, according to Punch, was sent
packing from the house less than four months after he started work on suspicion
of his criminal nature.
The police said the landlord of the house
travelled abroad with his family in December 2016 only to come back and
realised that $2,000 he kept in his bedroom was gone.
In addition to that, part of the bundles of
N200 and N100 notes kept in the room were also taken.
But the case was not reported as the landlord
decided he wanted to be sure of the actual thief before reporting to the police
so the innocent ones out of his domestic staff would not suffer.
After trying in vain to determine how the
house, which was locked up could have been accessed in his absence, he
travelled again few months after with his family with the hope that the
burglary was a one-off thing.
But this time, 2,000 Euro belonging to the
landlady and the entire bundles of mint Nigerian notes which the family kept
for social events were carted away.
Also stolen in the house were Apple Macbook,
iPads and other valuables. Later, it was discovered that a hole barely enough
for an adult’s head to pass through had been cut through the burglar-proof of
one of the rooms in the house.
The police said the entire worth of mobile
phones, perfumes and cash stolen on the two occasions amounted to N6m.
However, when Isiaka was questioned about how
the house was burgled while he was working, he denied knowledge of it, but
instead diverted suspicion to a former guard who was recalled to the house
after Abu’s sack.
When asked if Abu could have perpetrated the
burglary, Isiaka said he did not think so.
He was later asked to contact Abu since it had
been discovered that they were both kinsmen but he insisted that Abu had left
for their village to bury his mother.
A police source who is familiar with the
investigation, said that when Isiaka finally took them to where Abu lived, they
met Abu’s mother but they did not reveal themselves as policemen.
On a second visit, Abu’s mother was said to
have disguised as someone else with a hijab and told the police that Abu would
not be home from work for some days.
“We realised she must have learnt that we were
policemen. When we threatened to arrest her until the actual mother showed up,
she removed her Hijab and said she was indeed Abu’s mother that we had met the
first time,” the police source said.
Our correspondent learnt that the woman
promptly took them to Abu’s house where he was arrested.
He later confessed that he indeed carried out
the burglary. Isiaka on his part first admitted to getting a share of N50,000
from proceeds of the loot. Again he change his words and said his share was
N175,000. Later, he denied he got anything at all.
The suspects were detained at the Criminal
Investigation and Intelligence Department, Yaba, Lagos.
On Thursday, the police said the suspects had
been arraigned before a Yaba Magistrate’s Court, Lagos.
They were charged on three counts of
conspiracy, burglary and stealing punishable under sections 411, 287 (7) and
307 (2) of the Criminal Laws of Lagos, 2015.
The suspects were admitted to a N200,000 bail
each by Magistrate R. N. Johnson, while the case was adjourned till June 21,
2017 for mention.
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