A domestic worker, Sossougueto Theodore, has been arrested by men of the Lagos State Police Command for allegedly stealing N2,729,850 from his Japanese employer, Yasushi Murata, in the Ikoyi area of the state.
A neighbour, Oluwasegun Olusoji, was reportedly arrested for conniving with Theodore to perpetrate the crime against his boss.
Murata was said to be at home when Theodore and Olusoji allegedly broke into his side of the building to rob him of his possession.
During the operation, the suspects allegedly tortured Murata and made him transfer N1m into an account owned by Olusoji.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu, said in a statement on Thursday that the suspects, who had coerced Murata into disclosing the pin code of his ATM card, made away with it.
He stated that Theodore and Olusoji used the ATM card to fraudulently withdraw N1,729,850 from Murata’s account, adding that detectives attached to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Panti, Yaba, arrested the suspects.
Ajisebutu said, “Detectives at the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Panti, have apprehended a domestic worker who conspired with one other to rob his employer, Yasushi Murata, a Japanese, and an expatriate employee of Honda Automobile West Africa Ltd but resident at Chris Ali Street, Abacha Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos.
“On February 1, 2022, around 11pm, the duo of Sossougueto Theodore, 50, a domestic worker to the victim, and Oluwasegun Olusoji, a neighbour, 35, conspired together and broke into the victim’s residence and forced him to transfer the sum of N1m into the Zenith Bank account of Oluwasegun Olusoji.
“After torturing and violently assaulting the victim, the robbers who were masked, armed with a gun, and an axe, made away with his ATM card after coercing him to disclose his PIN.”
A few days after the robbery, the suspects using the ATM, unlawfully and fraudulently withdrew the sum of N1,729,850, making a total of 2,729,850, stolen from the victim’s bank account without authorisation.
“The suspects feared for their arrest and in order to cover up the criminal act, threatened to kill the victim if he failed to leave the country or ever disclosed what happened to anyone. Unperturbed by the threat but pained by the injuries sustained, the victim, after recovering from the trauma, reported the robbery through a petition to the SCIID, Panti.
“Consequent upon the receipt of the petition, the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the SCIID, Adegoke Fayoade, immediately assigned seasoned detectives to investigate the incident. Painstaking investigation led to the arrest of the perpetrators.”
Ajisebutu said the state Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alabi, who directed that the case should be charged to court, admonished employers to always carry out a thorough background check on their domestic staff before employing them, and be wary of criminal neighbours.
Copyright PUNCH.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: [email protected]
