Posted by By Yisa Jamiu on
Three employees of MTN have been arrested by the police in Ogun state, for participating in the vandalisation of the company's site, at Papalanto.
Three employees of MTN have been arrested by the police in Ogun state, for participating in the vandalisation of the company's site, at Papalanto.
The suspects are Abelusi Tope, site supervisor, and two security guards attached to the site, Michael Akinlolu and Victor Olaleye.
They were arrested after they were implicated in the theft of generators at the site by two other suspects, John Paul and Godfrey Chikezie.
P.M.News gathered that Paul and Chikezie travelled from Lagos to Papalanto, Ogun state, with other members of the gang, in a Peugeot J5 bus, to perpetrate the act. They were arrested by a team of policemen on patrol near the company site.
Giving insight into how the suspects were arrested, the Ogun state Commissioner of Police, Solomon Olusegun, said a team of policemen on patrol at Papalanto/Ifo Road, received information about the activities of some vandals in the area. But by the time his men got there, they had left with their loot.
'However, my men were able to trail them and when the thieves realised that the game was up, they abandoned their vehicle and fled into the bush. 'We recovered their operational vehicle, a Peugeot J5 bus. At dawn, my men combed the bush and arrested two members of the gang, Paul and Chikezie,' he said.
According to Paul, 'I don't know what the police are accusing me of. I am the conductor of the bus that was used. We used our bus to convey goods for people. We have our motor park at Alaba International Market.
'We were coming from Port Harcourt when Chikezie and some people approached us. I used to know Chikezie as the leader of a group in the market. We charged them N50,000 for the trip.
'We arrived at the site in the afternoon but they told us to park and wait because the engineer in charge of the goods, Abelusi, was not around.
'We were there till 4 p.m. when the police came. The driver of the bus and others escaped while I was arrested,' said Paul, one of the suspects.
In his own statement, Chikezie said: 'I am a load carrier at the Alaba International Market. I actually introduced the bus driver to those that engaged our service. One man who said he was an MTN engineer and contractor approached me in the market and said he needed a bus to convey some generating sets.
'I did not know that the man and his friends only wanted to use us. When the police came, I could not run because I chartered the vehicle,' Chikezie lamented. Tope, the site supervisor, however, denied the allegation that he masterminded the heinous crime.