A 54-year-old man, Michael Bisa, was over the weekend arrested by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad, RRS, in Lagos for allegedly selling fake phones to unsuspecting customers in the Oshodi area of the state.

The suspect, DAILY POST gathered, tricks members of the public by disguising as a mobile phone seller in the area, yet sells bars of soap well packaged, in place of phones.

Following his arrest, Bisa, a father of four, blamed his ordeal on poverty. According to him, “What I did to my customers is called exchange. The people who come to me to buy mobile phones would be shown a real phone, but while we are discussing the price, I would carefully hide the phone in a white handkerchief and swap it with a bar of soap which I had already cut to size and put in a phone case.

“The moment the customer leaves, I would hide to change my clothes so that he or she would not recognise me afterwards,” Bisa added.

“I was a refrigerator technician in Delta State. I came to Lagos to look for greener pastures about 15 years ago.”

Speaking further, the suspect who hails from Effurun, Delta State, said a friend, now dead, identified as Hakeem Tijani, introduced him to the job about four years ago.

“When the situation got so hard for me, I met a friend, Hakeem Tijani, who is now late. He was the one who taught me the job. Since that time, about four years ago, I have been surviving this way.”

Confirming the arrest, the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Joe Offor, said the suspect would be charged to court soon.

According to Offor, the police recovered bars of soap, shirts, some amount of money and envelopes from the suspect.