Posted by By Juliana Francis on
Three secondary school pupils, who left their studies to take a crash course in crime, have been nabbed at the Ikeja area of Lagos.
Three secondary school pupils, who left their studies to take a crash course in crime, have been nabbed at the Ikeja area of Lagos. The boys were identified as Tunde Raheem (14) , a JSS 1 pupil of Ogba Grammar School, Fatai Jaji (16), an SSS pupil of Omole Secondary School and Williams Gbamusu (25), a secondary school drop out.
They were accused of stealing recharged cards valued at over N150, 000.
The recharge cards allegedly belong to one Alhaji Adelu Adeniyi and Mrs. Adebukola Mustapha.
Adeniyi, who runs a business centre at Oluwole Housing Estate, told the police that Jaji last two weeks sneeked into his shop and made away with 43 recharge cards valued at N23, 000. But Jaji denied stealing them from the man. He said he was cleaning seats in his aunt's home when he saw the recharge cards in a black nylon.
He told Daily Sun that immediately he sighted the vouchers, his first thought was to talk to his best buddy, Raheem. He wanted Raheem to look for buyers.
He said: "He sold three. I later collected them from him because I wanted someone who could sell them at once. I went to Williams. He stays under a canopy. There, they smoke Indian hemp. He took them to someone at Ikeja. When they started looking for it at home, I told them I was the person that took them."
Jaji's mother said he was her second child in a family of five. According to her, since his father's death some years back, life had not been easy for her. She revealed that she was happy, when her late husband's brother came to pick Jaji to stay with him. The woman added that to take care of the other children, she hawks nail polish and file ladies' nails.
Mustapha, another complainant, claimed the youngest among the trio, called Raheem, crept into her saloon and removed vouchers valued at N130, 000. She insisted that after stealing them, Raheem, brazenly came back to ask her if she was interested in buying some recharge cards.
Raheem denied stealing from Mustapha. He admitted asking Mustapha if she was interested in buying recharge cards, adding, "but they were the recharge cards Fatai gave to me to sell. When I told her about the recharge cards, she asked me to go and bring them. But when I told Fatai, he was angry that I told the woman about the cards."
The situation appears to be at a standstill and the remaining recharge cards have vanished if the story of Williams Gbamusu is to be believed.
Gbamusu blamed Jaji for his predicament. He said he was minding his business when Jaji came to tempt him.
" He said he wanted me to sell them for him. I asked him where he found them. He said he found them along the road. I took the cards to Ikeja. The first payment was N1,800. I gave Tunde N1,200. The second was N1,300, I gave him N700. The third was N700, but I gave him N400."
Gbamusu said he was not guilty of any crime except trying to assist Jaji get a buyer for his wares. He told the police that the receiver had travelled for a burial but detectives suspected the man had bolted.