Phone ‘thief’ assaults police sergeant in Ikeja

A 32 year old man, Idowu Nojeem, has allegedly attacked a Rapid Response Squad (RRS) operative in the line of duty.

Nojeem was said to have assaulted Sergent Oladipo Adetunbi while attempting to rob him of his Tecno Y5 handset at Ikeja last Tuesday.

Despite receiving blows on his face, Adetumbi, who was on surveillance around Ikeja Under Bridge, did not allow Nojeem to escape.

A statement by RRS quoted an eye witness as saying: “I was with the policeman when the suspect forcefully removed the phone from the operative’s front pocket. He never knew he was a policeman because the officer was not in

uniform. As he moved closer to him, he stylishly covered his face with a newspaper, and removed the phone. We were all shocked that someone could have such an effrontery to rob in a public place.  Immediately the policeman pulled the suspect by his shirt but the suspect said he should forget his phone that it’s gone. He started beating the policeman before we could separate them.”

“When it was obvious that he was gaining an upper hand, a traffic warden and other policemen close by stepped in to separate them. Then, the operative now dragged him to other RRS operatives stationed at the Under Bridge, Ikeja,” the statement added.

At under the bridge, a woman, Nneka Adoh, walked up to challenge the suspect for stealing her phone few hours before the incident.

Adoh said: “I was trying to board a bus to Ogba when I sighted three guys including the suspect, walking beside me. The suspect was intermittently drawing my bag from behind but I held my bag tight. But I didn’t know he has used a razor blade to cut the bag and taken all my two phones (Tecno F5 and P5).

“Immediately I turned and checked my bag, my phones were gone. A passerby, who saw the suspect when he was removing my phones, pointed at him for stealing my phone. Truly, I saw the two phones with him from afar but I was too afraid to confront him,” she said.

Police spokesperson Dolapo Badmus said the police would not condone crime, promising that other members of the syndicate would soon be arrested.

The suspect has been charged to court.