Four members of phone stealing syndicate in Asaba, arrested by the operatives of the Delta Police Command, have confessed to the crime even as nine brand new android phones were recovered from their hideouts.
The suspects who were arrested when the operatives raided their criminal hideouts along St Brigid’s Road, Asaba, include three males namely Johna Omarocha, Kelvin Onogho Ufuoma Joshua and Nkechi Nnaji, a female.
Yemi Onyeniyi, Delta State Commissioner of Police who made the disclosure on Sunday in a statement by Bright Edafe, spokesman of the Command. said the raid followed a series of reported stealing of mobile phones from shops in Asaba and its environs.
According to him, operatives of the command, acting on credible intelligence and technical intelligence analysis, on the 25th of this month, arrested the four suspects while others flee.
“A search of the hideout led to the recovery of nine brand new Android phones still in their cartons.”
The suspects have reportedly confessed to the crime, while efforts are ongoing to arrest other fleeing members of the syndicate and identify the owners of the recovered phones.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspects in the guise of buying items from shops and supermarkets, use newspapers to cover phones in the shop and cart away with the phones when leaving the shops”, he stated.
He further revealed that the syndicate engages the female suspect among them who then waybills the phones to Lagos where the IMEI numbers of the phones are altered and then sell the phones.
He said that the four suspects are in custody and would be charged to court as soon as investigation is concluded.
CP Oyeniyi reaffirmed the command’s commitment to tackling all forms of crime and urged members of the public, particularly shop owners and business operators, to remain security conscious and promptly report suspicious persons or activities to the Police.
