Posted by By JULIANA FRANCIS on
An attempt by some employees in Lagos to steal company's property as a way of revenge for under- payment has landed them in police net.
•They robbed company they work for as retaliation for pay cut
In attempt by some employees in Lagos to steal company's property as a way of revenge for under- payment has landed them in police net.
The suspects, Adekunle Somefun, Taiwo Olatunji, Nuru Azeez, Adebayo Rasheed and were staffers of Fusole Limited Company, before they hatched the devil plans with Lukmon Salau.
The suspects were arrested after they had successfully burgled Fusole Limited. Somefun, one of the managers, said he was the one who provided the key to open the gate to the company and the drawers where recharge cards amounting to millions of naira were kept.
To fool people into believing that the job was done by professional burglars, the thieving staffers invited Salau, who used his welding tools to cut the locks of the gate and drawers.
The owner of the company had already fallen for this until policemen waded into the matter.
The cops immediately picked Somefun and Olatunji, who were the only staff that had keys to the company.
The suspects were said to have hatched the theft plan after the management repeatedly underpaid them as punishment for an unbalanced account.
Olatunji, the only female in the group, who claimed she was forced into the crime, said: "Whenever the account did not balance, they would pay us half salaries. And we don't know why the account was not always balancing. In December when most people go home with gifts from their companies to celebrate the season, our boss would not even pay us."
Sick and tired of what they perceived as injustice, the staff decided to pay him back by stealing from the company.
Somefu, who was visibly angry, snarled: "There's no month we sell, that they'll not say the company recorded losses. We hatched the plan to go to the head office and steal the recharge cards and cash, so that we would use the money to offset the so-called debts they were always talking about. I had the keys to the gate. I opened the iron gate. Nuru Azeez used razor blade to cut open the bags containing the recharge cards. We took the cash".
Sensing that the first suspects were likely members of staff, the gang gave the bag of recharge cards and money to Lukman Salau, who was promised a percentage for his cooperation.
Olatunji, who sobbed throughout the interview, said: "They forced me to do it. Adekunle Somefu came to me twice. When he came the third time, I agreed.
He kept disturbing me, asking me if I was happy the way they were treating us. The company is supposed to pay us N10,000 but at month end, we would be paid N5000. During December period, instead of bonuses, they would not pay us at all. We planned to steal to pay up the debt and resign."
While insisting that he didn't plan the theft with the group, Salau said he accepted to keep the bags containing the money and recharge cards for the disgruntled staff.