By Olasunkanmi Akoni

LAGOS—AN 18-year-old boy, Segun Adeyefa, caught by operatives of Rapid Response Squad, RRS, of Lagos State Police Command, for allegedly selling bar of soap as mobile phones to buyers in traffic, said he did so to avenge a wrong done him.

The suspect noted that he was lured into the fraud after he was duped through a similar means about a year ago.

He was arrested by the RRS men on routine patrol of Ikorodu Motor Park, Monday night, while he was attempting to defraud a young man.

In his confession at RRS Headquarters, Alausa, Ikeja, he claimed to have duped a buyer of N3,500.

Adeyefa narrated: “A year ago, I bought a phone that turned out to be a cut-to-size bar of soap. The two guys approached me on my way to work. Then, I was learning plumbing somewhere around Ikorodu. I bought the phone, which was advertised to me as ‘London used’ for N2,500.

“I later checked the phone and discovered it was a bar of soap. That very moment I promised myself to revenge by doing same to the people. I learned the tactics by studying the ‘phone’ I bought.”

‘My style’

He continued: “What I usually do is called ‘exchange’. While my victims have the mind of buying a handset, I would have changed the real thing to soap, packed in a cut-to-size carton and put inside an envelope.

“We then begin to bargain after I would have shown them the real phone. After arriving at a settlement, I will swap the real phone for the fake one with the aid of a white handkerchief and tell the buyer to hide the phone as people are watching us. As soon as the buyer leaves, I will immediately change location.

“I also had no choice but to go into this as my master, who taught me plumbing work, died.”

While confirming the arrest, the Police Public Relations Officer, Superintendent Dolapo Badmus, warned the public to be weary of individuals who approach them to buy phones on highways.

Items such as fake phones, cut-to-size bar of soap, shirts, some amount of money, a packet of envelopes and cut-to-size cartons were recovered from him.