A twenty-five year old man identified as Thank God Owei is now cooling his heels at the Akenfa Police station in Yenagoa the state capital for stealing two parcels of Vanguard daily newspapers meant for circulation on Tuesday.
The suspect, a native of Biseni in Yenagoa Local Government Area had successfully stolen the newspapers shortly after it has been off loaded at the Mbiama Junction at about 6 am, and immediately took them for sale to a vendor at the popular Tombia roundabout.
However, luck ran out of him as the vendor sensing that he was an impostor and must have stolen the parcels pretended to play along with him and began to haggle over the price while also making contact with Vanguard sales representative in Bayelsa State Mr Duke Oyintobara who immediately arrived the scene to confirm he stole the parcel.
The thief who pleaded for mercy was given the beating of his life by passersby who were attracted to the scene before he was taken to the Akenfa Police Station where he confess to the crime and he is currently being detained.
Narrating how he carried out the act, the suspect Mr Owei, said he normally leaves his village in Biseni located on the outskirts of the state capital every morning to look for menial jobs to survive in the city.
He narrates: “I used to leave my village every morning to work in Yenagoa, I do cement casting job at construction sites. This morning as I was coming out I saw one young man carrying two parcels, I didn’t know the contents but we boarded the same taxi to Yenagoa. As I was observing him, I knew he was not the owner and so when he dropped with the parcels and went inside the street, I knew he was not the owner so I took them to Tombia junction and it was there that I opened it and realize that it was newspapers, and I asked people if they can be sold and they said yes, it was when I was trying to negotiate the price that I was caught, I am not denying, I stole them.
“I lost my wife four months ago during child birth but I have one child, since the death of my wife life has been so hard on me, please forgive me, I cannot deny it, I stole the parcels.”
and then