We make N80,000 daily from pickpocketing – suspects

Two suspected serial pickpockets have confessed that they were making over N80,000 in their illicit business in Lagos.

They were arrested by Lagos State Task Force while they were operating in a commercial bus (Danfo).  The suspects, Sodiq Olagoke, 25, and Lucas Patrick, 26, were arrested by operatives of the agency in the early hours of Tuesday, after they had dispossessed eight unsuspecting commuters of their phones around the Oshodi/Ikeja Along axis.

The task force officers who made the arrest disclosed that the suspects, who were roving the said axis in their Danfo commercial bus, looked suspicious and noticed that the driver and the two male passengers seemed uneasy when they saw  the officers. 

The police said: “We kept on their trail for a few minutes before double-crossing their vehicle at Oshodi, and the three occupants in the bus took  to their heels. Two out of the three suspects were arrested with the assistance of passers-by and we found eight different mobile phones belonging to different passengers who boarded their vehicle.”

Sodiq, who claimed to be a painter by profession, said that he had been in the pickpocket business for over a year and boasted of a daily bounty of N80,000 per day which he shared with his partners in crime. He said: “We operated mainly on Tuesdays and Fridays because those are the busiest days of the week, and there is usually a lot of hustle and bustle at the bus stops.

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“Passengers who make use of their phones while in our bus were usually falsely alerted by the conductor that there was a fight going on in front which would make the passenger pocket their phones which would offer the conductor to pick their pockets and we would steal the phones.”

The second suspect, Lucas Patrick, who was the bus driver also confessed that pickpocketing was a very lucrative business for him.

Lagos State Task Force Chairman, CSP Shola Jejeloye, said that the agency would make the State uninhabitable for criminal elements.

Jejeloye enjoined Lagosians to be vigilant and conscious of their environment at all times and ensure that any suspicious moves are reported to the agency or to the nearest police station.