MEN of the Lagos State Police Command have arrested 28 year old burglary suspect Olamilekan Olaoluwa after he got complacent and decided to sit down and entertain himself after breaking into a victim's house.  

Mr Olaoluwa was arrested by policemen from the Iponri division after breaking into a house in the Ebute-Metta area of Lagos State. A Kwara State indigene, he had broken into a two-bedroom flat on Brickfield Road around 2pm, while the occupant was away, removing  a Plasma TV from the wall and packed the clothes, wristwatches and phone handsets. 

However, after gathering his haul, Mr Olaoluwa proceeded to the kitchen and opened the fridge where he picked up a can of Malt to refresh himself. He was still entertaining himself when the owner of the apartment came in and found the suspect with the loot. 

She was said to have raised the alarm, drawing the attention of residents who beat up the suspect before handing him over to the police. Mr Olaoluwa, who claimed to have spent six years to train as a plumber, said he did not have a job or a place of abode, adding that he broke into his victim’s house because the gate was left open. 

“I am a secondary school dropout and do not have a permanent place of abode but I sometimes sleep in the Oko Baba Sawmill in Ebute-Meta. I don’t always steal from people but I was passing by when I saw that the gate was slightly opened and that made it easy for me to enter. 

“I broke the padlock and entered the sitting room where I removed the Plasma TV. I then entered the bedroom and took the woman’s husband underwear and wristwatches," he added. 

After the owner of the home raised the alarm, the suspect hid himself in a corner of a room in the house but was found after an intense search. Some local hoodlums allegedly beat him up before he was handed over to the police. 

Investigating police officer, Chukwuocha Augustine, arraigned the suspect before an Ebute-Meta Magistrates’ Court on four counts of burglary, malicious damage, breach of the public peace and stealing. Prosecutor, Corporal Kokoye Olusegun, said the offences were punishable under sections 305, 337, 285, 166 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2011. 

In court, the defendant pleaded guilty to all the charges. Magistrate, Mrs Fowowe-Erusiafe, ruled that Mr Olaoluwa should be remanded in prison custody until November 30 when the case will be heard.