Operatives of the Bayelsa State Vigilante Service have apprehended two phone thieves at the popular Tombia-Etegwe Roundabout in Yenagoa, the state capital.
Their arrest followed a tip-off by one of their victims, who they dispossessed of his phone inside a tricycle popularly known as a Keke.
KUKURUKU Metro gathered that at about 11am on Monday, one Abasi, a male who hailed from Akwa Ibom State, boarded a tricycle and realised that his mobile phone had been stolen.
Abasi immediately boarded another tricycle which overtook the one used by the gang of pickpockets and stopped at the unit post of the vigilante operatives.
He complained of the theft of his phone and identified the tricycle used by the phone thieves and a search was conducted which led to the arrest of the suspects.
The suspects, Daniel Michael Agu and his partner, Okpoh Kelvin, also confessed to thefts of several mobile phones.
Agu said they have been earning a daily income from picking pockets using a tricycle for several years within the state capital.
Chairman of the Bayelsa State Vigilante Service, Doubiye Alagba, described Agu as the ring leader of the pickpocket gang and has initiated many boys into the criminal act.
Alagba told journalists on Monday that Agu had been on the wanted list of the vigilante outfits for quite some time.
He said, “These criminals, most times, use charms and diabolic means to steal valuables from their victims and this arrest is a major crackdown on pickpockets.
Several phones were discovered within their possessions, including that of the complainant.
On switching on one of the phones caught with them, the owner immediately called and said she was robbed by the suspects at a different location within Yenagoa.”
He said that the suspects have been handed over to the police for further investigations.
When contacted, the spokesman for the Bayelsa State Police Command, Mr Musa Mohammed, did not pick up his calls or respond to an inquiry senr to his mobile phone.
