By Esther Onyegbula

Operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Lagos State Police Command,  arrested a 28 – year old man for allegedly  stealing bridge railings meant to reinforce Ijora Bridge.

The man, Ademola Kazeem,  was arrested around 7:00p.m.  at Ijora Bridge inward CMS Saturday night,  while packing 30 pieces of railings meant to reinforce and firm up the bridge into a  commercial bus popularly called Danfo.

The suspect  said that he was invited by a  guy, simply identified as  Kapol, a scrap scavenger to  transport the metals for him.

The arrested suspect

He added that when he saw the metal scraps, he was shocked because he suspected that the guy must have removed them from where they were meant to support the bridge.

Upon arrival at the RRS headquarters, Ademola explained that he was just bringing his vehicle out of the mechanic workshop.

“I have not worked for four day with the bus. I was removing the bus from where it was parked when I saw Kapol. I begged him to help push the bus.

It was while we were pushing the vehicle that he told me I was going to help him carry the metal. He added that though, he had no fuel, Kapol got 5 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) for him to move the vehicle to pack the metal.

On getting to the crime scene, he noted Kapol had brought out three packs of the railings before the arrival of the Police, adding that he decided to stay while Kapol ran away because he knew nothing about the removal of  railings from their original positions.

The suspect confessed that he sleeps in a park at Iddo, where he met his accomplice.

In all, about 30 railings were removed from the Ijora bridge. The suspect is assisting the police in the arrest of Kapol.

Confirming the arrest, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Superintendent of Police, Dolapo Badmos, stated that the force was following up statement of the suspect in order to arrest his colleague.