Police arrest teenager over phone theft, says ‘I have gone to prison seven times’

Operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Lagos State Police Command on Wednesday arrested an 18-year-old ex-convict over alleged serial phone theft in Oshodi.
 
The suspect, Sadeeq Wasiu, who had been imprisoned seven times, was re-arrested in Oshodi 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 master-mind of four phone thefts and two bag snatching attempt in Oshodi.
  
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 years 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; Ahmed alias Oyi, Tombolo and I. 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.
 
“I sell Indian Hemp too. I buy it from Spider in Lagos Island and I resell in small raps to over 50 of my colleagues in Oshodi. I can buy N4, 000 and brake into small wraps and sell for N8, 000,” he narrated.
 
Confirming the arrest, the State’s Police Public Relations Officer, Superintendent of Police, Dolapo Badmus, assured that the Command will not rest on its oars in nipping in the bud criminal activities in the state.
 
The suspect has been transferred to the Lagos State Taskforce in Oshodi.