Warri – A middle aged serial Burglar, Kpomoghena yesterday escaped being lynched when luck ran out of him at Egbe Layout,Off Sokoh Estate Road, Effurun.
The thief who was caught wandering in the Layout by a staff of Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), who was on duty distributing electricity bills, was accosted by the BEDC, who thought he was a colleague.
It was gathered that, the BEDC staff who noticed that he was fidgeting while he spoke with him, left him and put a call across to a resident of the Layout informing him that he noticed a stranger lurking around the Layout.
The Mobile Policemen at the entrance of the Layout was quickly alerted and immediately mobilized to an apartment in a four flat storey building where the thief entered.
An eye witness said, after a frantic search, the police and some residents gave up and left.
There was however a twist when the owner of the apartment, simply identified as Nsikan who was with neighbors and still wondering how the thief got access into his flat despite being securely locked before leaving home, went to the kitchen to take water from the fridge that he heard a bang; he then ran to alert others who immediately recalled the MOPOL to the crime scene.
After a more thorough search, the Burglar was apprehended in the kitchen when he wanted to gain entrance into the kitchen through the balcony.
Upon interrogation by the residents who descended on him with sticks and canes, Kpomoghena, an indigene of Edo State , and father of three , who said he lives at Water Resources area of Effurun, confessed that he used a master key and screw driver to open the three doors leading to the flat and pleaded to be left off the hook explaining that, he took to crime because of inability to raise money for his children school fees.
Items recovered from his bag included, keys of various brands of car,which Akpomoghena said could open various cars ,a screw driver, a dried substance suspected to be Indian hemp, a lighter, and a gold plated wristwatch which he confessed he had earlier stolen from a parked Toyota Camry car parked somewhere in the Layout.
But for the timely intervention of Policemen from Ugborikoko Police Station, it would have been a case of jungle justice as some aggrieved residents who swiftly got a tyre, insisted on roasting the thief alive.
Some resident said, Kpomoghena, had severally been arrested at different police Station for various crimes.
He was whisked away to the Ugborikoko Police Station where according to the police, he would be charged to court soon.
Contacted on Friday, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Bright Edafe, said he was yet to be briefed on the incident.
