Alexander Okere, Benin

A man , suspected to be a cable thief, has been reportedly electrocuted at Faith Street , off Owena road, in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State .

The deceased , identified as one Omoivie, was said to have died while attempting to steal some electric cables at a high voltage distribution system belonging to the Benin Electricity Distribution Company in the area.

It was also learnt that the BEDC was yet to connect the area to the HVDS.

A source in the area said that the corpse of the victim was sighted near some mini transformers with a pliers by his side on Thursday morning.

According to the source , the cable thief may have been killed between 2a.m and 3a.m due to the fluctuation of power experienced during the period .

Some sympathisers who were at the scene said that the deceased was recently released from prison , after spending many months awaiting trial for cable theft .

He was also said to be the eldest son of his family.

However, some residents alleged that the deceased may have been a serial thief as many cables connected to the HVDS in the area had been stolen since they had not been electrified for public use.

A landlord in the area , Okhuorabo Isaac , said , “ We always bought cables for our transformers and they were stolen in this area. ”

Another resident, Believe Ovamwanta, said , “ There was electricity when the incident happened . The boy was killed because of induction of the wires . ”

The Police Public Relations Officer, Moses Nkombe , could not be reached for comments.

But the Public Relations Officer of the distribution company , Tayo Adekunle, confirmed the incident adding that investigation had commenced.

Punchng