Police Arrest Five Suspected NITEL Cable Thieves

Police have arrested five persons said to be specialists in vandalizing and stealing telecommunication cables belonging to Nigerian Telecommunications Limited, NITEL, within Lagos Island and its environs.

In separate arrests by policemen attached to Dolphin Estate Police Station and Anti-Robbery Policemen from Area ‘A’ Police Command, the suspects identified as Eze David, Iluwa Ubah, Oyebuchi Nwodom, Femi David and Michael Okoki, who are members of a large syndicate that vandalizes underground telecommunication cables from various manholes within Ikoyi, Victoria Island, Surelere, Isolo and LagosIsland, were caught with several cables belonging to NITEL.


One of the suspects, Femi David, said to have been arrested with over 117 pieces of short cables in his confession said that they usual melt the cables into copper before disposing of them.

“I am the leader of my own group and I steal cables from several manholes in Lagos State. I started last year and I usually operate in areas where I knew the police do not patrol regularly.

“I have done it for more than 10 times and I make more than a hundred thousand naira from each trip. The job that gave me out was at Broad Street, by Kakawa on Lagos Island, we did that for about two days and when we were about conveying the cables out of the area the police intercepted us.
“I ventured into it because there was no other job for me to do,” David said.