Posted by By JAMES OJO, Abuja on
The reality of the proverb that ‘every day is for the thief, while one day is for the owner,' has tbecome a reality for Joe Enegbo, an Abuja-based kabu-kabu driver- turned- GSM voucher snatcher, who was caught in the act near the reconstructed Valedrome of the National Stadium.
The reality of the proverb that ‘every day is for the thief, while one day is for the owner,' has tbecome a reality for Joe Enegbo, an Abuja-based kabu-kabu driver- turned- GSM voucher snatcher, who was caught in the act near the reconstructed Valedrome of the National Stadium.
Joe had on June 2, 2006 snatched a roll of vouchers from a lady simply identified as Blessing near the Games Village and zoomed of in his Nissan white car, thinking he had made a good escape.
Police sources informed Daily Sun that the wailings and the alarm raised by the hapless lady attracted the sympathy of some passers-by and okada riders who gave Joe a hot chase until he was caught near the Valedrome.
Prompt intervention by a police team on patrol saved him from been beaten to death by the crowd that gathered after he was caught. "It was the timely arrival of police that saved him, if not he would have been beaten to death because okada riders in the area alleged that snatching of vouchers had become a daily routine" the source revealed.
When searched, only two vouchers of N500 of Glo was found on him.
This, it was learnt, further sparked another round of beating by the angry crowd. Joe confessed before he was whisked away to the police station that he was a novice in the trade as he converted to kabu-kabu business when he was retrenched from a construction company where he was working before. He begged for leniency from the angry crowd, saying that it was hard time and poor returns from his commercial driving business that pushed him to the risky job of snatching vouchers and female bags.
The father of two girls said that his family would be devastated should they learn that he was doing more than commercial driving to bring money home.
"Please, let me go, I beg you in the name of God. Don't let my family hear that I was snatching bags and GSM cards, I promise. I will never do it again," he pleaded before the police came. At the police station, it was learnt that Joe who hails from Kogi State confessed to the crime and pleaded for leniency.
Meanwhile, his car had been confiscated as it was gathered that investigations had to be conducted to determine whether he is a member of a gang that specialised in snatching female bags and GSM vouchers. " He would be charged to court after we might have concluded investigations. There is possibility that he might belong to a gang whose stock in trade is to snatch female bags and GSM vouchers," a police source said.