MICHAEL AKINOLA
Police operatives from the Lagos State Command have arrested a 19-year old,
Aliyu Mohammed, for allegedly digging ground and attempting to steal armoured cables that supplied electricity to the Trade Fair Complex.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that the suspect has been charged before an Ojo Magistrate Court in Lagos, for criminal liability over his alleged conduct.
The defendant, Mohammed, is standing trial before Magistrate D.S. Odukoya, on a two-count charge of conspiracy and attempt to commit felony, which attracts several years of imprisonment.
However, he pleaded not guilty.
Odukoya granted the defendant bail in the sum of N200,000 with two sureties in like sum and adjourned the matter till 18th December, 2023, for mention.
Earlier, the Prosecutor, Inspector Esther Adesulu, told the Court that the defendant committed the offences on 17th November, 2023, at the Administrative Block of the International Trade Fair Complex in Ojo, Lagos State.
She alleged that the defendant and others now at large, armed with shovels and other implements, attempted to dig up underground armoured cables in the complex in order to steal them.
However, Adesulu stated that the defendant ran out of luck as he was apprehended by securitymen while his accomplices escaped and are now at large.
She stated that the cables were the properties of the Federal Government of Nigeria and the alleged offences contravened the provisions of Sections 409 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.