The Lagos State Police Command has arrested an ex-convict, Kingsley Wanogho, who paraded himself as an officer of the Nigeria Army for alleged abduction and phone snatching in the Ikeja area of the state on Saturday.
The arrest was contained in a statement on Wednesday by the Rapid Response Squad of the command.
It noted that the 42-year-old suspect had allegedly kidnapped a yet-to-be-identified man and took him to the Third Mainland Bridge where he deposed the victim of his mobile phone.
The statement added that nemesis caught up with him after one of his victims was able to identify him to the personnel of the RRS along the Ikeja Under Bridge and he was arrested.
The statement continued, “Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect on December 30, 2024, accused his victim of stumbling on him. He claimed he lost a gold ring in the process and that his victim must produce the ring for him.
“Wanogho, thereafter, told his victim, Solomon, that he was an army officer, displaying his identification card. It was further alleged that Wanogho told his victim that if he couldn’t produce his gold ring, he was going to take him to army barracks in Oshodi.
“Investigations revealed that it was at this point that the suspect invited an accomplice on a motorcycle and hauled his victim on the bike. And, on the pretext that they were taking the victim to the Army Cantonment, they drove him to the Third Mainland Bridge, collected his iPhone 13 and money, and abandoned him there.”
The statement noted that investigations revealed that the suspect who was convicted last year for a similar offence, had sold the phone he deposed from his victim for N150,000.
It added that the suspect and the exhibit recovered from him had been transferred to the command’s headquarters for onward probe.
“Further investigations revealed that Wanogho sold the iPhone 13 for N150,000 in Computer Village, Ikeja. Investigations have also revealed that the suspect was arrested last year in Ikeja and imprisoned over a similar crime.“Recovered from him were a Nigerian 6 fez cap and Nigerian Army fake identity card. The suspect has been transferred to the CP’s Special Squad for further investigation,” the statement concluded. (Punch)