Police Arrest Suspected Thieves Who Specialise In Stealing Lister Generators In Ondo

Three suspected members of a notorious syndicate that specialises in stealing lister power generating engines from offices in Akure have been apprehended by men of the Ondo state police command.

Parding the suspects before journalists in Akure on Tuesday, June 21, spokesperson of the command, Funmilayo Odunlami, explained that detectives swung into action after the owners contacted the police on Monday night that their generators had been stolen.

She said investigations led to the arrest of the culprits when police chased them to Ilesha where they were arrested along Akure/Ilesha Expressway.

“A Domino Lister engine was stolen in one location at FUTA North Gate and another VC Morgan Lister engine was stolen on the same axis. The suspects had been apprehended in Ilesha, Osun state and they confessed to the crime.” the PPRO added.

Odunlami assured residents that the suspects would be arraigned after the investigation is concluded.

The prime suspect, Babajide Moses, who confessed to the offence said he usually travelled down to Akure from Ikorodu in Lagos State, to break into people’s offices or homes to steal generators and sell off the stolen generators in Owode Onirin in Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos State.

According to him, he contacted the driver of the vehihicle around 10 pm and negotiated with him while he engaged some Hausa labourers to loose the generating set and loaded them into the vehicles.

He confessed that he had earlier stolen two generating sets and disposed of it in Lagos at the rate of N200,000 each before he was arrested by the team of CID from Ondo State while moving the generating plants to Lagos.

The 38-year-old confessed that he intended stealing one generating set before finding out that there was another one close to the one he was about to steal and decided to steal the two in an office located FUTA North Gate area of Akure.

But the driver of an 18-seater Mazda bus, Bolaji Arowolo, said he was engaged by the prime suspect, Moses, saying he never knew the generators were stolen goods.

He explained that he negotiated with the suspect who agreed to pay the sum of N35,000 for the two generating plants from Akure to Ibadan.