Task Force paramilitary officer arraigned, jailed for stealing phone

A paramilitary officer attached to the Lagos State Task Force, Mr Moses Prince, has been arraigned before a court of law for stealing a ‘Phantom 6 Techno’ mobile phone belonging to one Pastor Kingsley of Christ Church in Fadeyi area of the state and subsequently jailed for one year without an option of fine after he pleaded guilty of the offence.

Task Force Chairman, SP Yinka Egbeyemi, disclosed this on Thursday in a statement made available to newsmen at Alausa, Ikeja, saying that 34-year- old Prince, a paramilitary officer deployed from ‘Man’O’ War’ to the Agency in October, 2016, stole the said item valued at N150,000 during an enforcement operation carried out at No 22, Ereko Street, Fadeyi area of the state.

Egbeyemi, who explained that the enforcement operation was recently carried out in continuation of the arrest of notorious miscreants and hoodlums who engaged in a bloody fracas that engulfed Idi-Oro area of Mushin, noted that the accused voluntarily confessed to have stolen the said mobile phone from a kitchen of the building where enforcement was carried out by the Agency.

He said following the confession, the accused was arraigned before Magistrate Lateef Owolabi of the Lagos State Mobile Court at Oshodi, on a one- count charge and was thereafter sentenced to a one- year imprisonment without any option of fine after he pleaded guilty.

The magistrate said the offence committed by the accused, Prince, was contrary to Section 258 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, noting that the punishment was meant to deter other public officers from engaging in criminal activities for any reason at all.

Meanwhile, the Task Force boss, Egbeyemi, said the Agency had carried out series of seminars where officers were lectured to shun criminal activities and be upright in the course of discharging their legitimate duties, assuring that any acts of criminality from officers would not be tolerated by the government.