By Peter Obiechina
Luck ran out of a daring rogue on Thursday, October 29, 2020 as he was nabbed with a laptop which he stole from an office located in the Gudu area of Abuja metropolis.
Perhaps emboldened by the recent wave of lawlessness and brigandage which swept across the nation over the last two weeks, the culprit, Rotimi Fajoye, had confidently walked up to the second floor office of a Non Governmental Organisation(NGO) where he perpetuated the act.
Although a public holiday, the NGO had scheduled a peer review meeting of it’s staff and was about rounding off the three hour engagement when one of them heard an unusual noise.
The official promptly headed for the reception area but midway he came across Fajoye who had gone past the Secretary’s office and was right inside the general office area.
Confronted, he became jittery and began to mutter gibberish, asking in the process if the NGO conduct internet training.
Realising that he was in the office for an ulterior business, Fajoye was mandated to empty the bag he had slung on his shoulder. Lo and behold, he had a newly purchased laptop belonging to a staff member neatly tucked inside.
Findings by 365Daily showed that the incident is one of several antics currently been used by small time miscreants to dispossess middle level offices of handy gadgets, especially laptops, iPads and phones.
Given the nature of their modus operandi, the criminals prefer single offices and suites located in malls and plazas as prime targets.
In one instance five weeks ago, 365Daily was told, a young man who belonged to a similar syndicate had walked into a medical laboratory located on the first floor of a plaza and requested to have a malaria test conducted on him.
Upon collecting his blood sample, the female lab attendant had gone inside to drop the sample kit, only to return seconds after to discover that her ‘client’ had vanished.
A quick look around brought the grim reality hard on her: the laptop which was resting on her table minutes earlier had also disappeared.
Contacted, a security analyst, Boniface Ogwu, urged both individuals and corporate bodies to be a little more conscious of their home and office environments.
” Given the tense situation of the country and the growing hardship, criminal minded individuals are going to devise more ingenious ways of plying their ignoble trade. Everyone, therefore, must endeavour to be alert on matters concerning security,” Ogwu said.