Guests nab man for stealing phones in church

  
A man, Sarafa Sanni, was arrested in Ibadan, Oyo State, inside the premises of St. David’s Cathedral, Anglican Communion, Kudeti for stealing two mobile phones.

Thousands of guests, including the Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi; the state House of Assembly Speaker, Monsurat Sunmonu, had gathered at the church on Tuesday for the opening of the Lekan Are Centre for Information, Communication and Technology, which Are built for the church and the St. David Primary School, located on the church premises.

The suspected phone thief was also among the crowd, but with an ulterior motive.

After allegedly stealing an expensive phone belonging to an official of the Ibadan South East Local Government Area, Sanni was said to have hid it in his underwear.

It was learnt that after he succeeded in stealing the second phone, the owner raised the alarm which attracted the attention of security operatives at the event. A random check was made and suspicion fell on Sanni, apparently because of his shabby look.

He claimed to be a driver who had brought some of the guests to the event, adding that that he lived in the Foko area of the city.

He was, however, unable to prove his claim, which led to the security operatives’ insistence that the suspect must submit himself for a search. When asked about the two phones found on him, he said they belonged to him and that he hid them in his underwear so that pickpockets around would not steal them from him.

Sanni said, “I am not a thief. I am a driver and my vehicle is down the road outside the church. The phones are mine and I intentionally hid them away so that I would not lose them to pickpockets. They have stolen my phone in the past so I learnt from the experience.”

His claim was faulted when he could not say his phone numbers and items saved on the phones.

The two phones were later handed over to the owners after proof of ownership was given, while Sanni was taken to Sanyo Police Station.

Copyright PUNCH