A 57 year- old driver, Akanbi Oba, has been arrested by men of the Iponri Police Division for stealing a set of car radio.
Akanbi who hails from Ogun state was apprehended at the scene while he was stealing the appliance from a car.
He was said to have stolen the radio with the aid of master keys.
The suspect was said to have opened some cars within Brick Field street, Apapa Road ,Ebute Metta before a resident caught him and alert the whole community.
The incident happened last Sunday at about 10am.
Two car radios and several master keys were found with him.
Speaking with our reporter, who was at the scene, Akanbi: “I regret my action. Begging is better than stealing. I need money for my surgery that is why I went into stealing .I got the keys from somewhere, I sell the car radio to Danfo driver after a successful trip (sic).”
The suspect, would have been lynched by a mob but for his swollen abdomen which scare the mob from beating him.
Men of Iponri Police Division later arrived the scene and took the suspect to their station for further investigation.
Akanbi whose does not have a fixed address claimed he has three children but poverty pushed him to stealing. He said he had been into theft of car accessories in order to gather money for a surgery on his swollen abdomen.
An eyewitness, Oladotun Abiodun, said: ” I was going along the street when a friend staying in a storey building called my attention to see a man standing beside a car. Immediately, I observed the man was not so confident of entering the car. I approached him and he started running, I caught him and brought him back to the scene where he had committed the act.’’