A 54-year-old man has been arrested by policemen attached to Rapid Response Squad, RRS, on patrol for selling fake mobile phones as genuine ones to unsuspecting victims in Lagos State.
The man identified as Michael Bisa, an indigene of Delta State was said to be an expert in swindling unsuspecting members of the public by changig the real handset to soap wrapped with cut-to-size carton put inside an envelope.
Luck however, ran out on him after the police officials suspected his movement over the weekend and trailed him until they arrested him along Oshodi-Apapa Expressway around 5: 50 pm.
According to Vanguard, the police recovered items such as fake phones, key soap cut- to- size, shirts, money, packet of envelopes and cut-to-size cartons from Bisa.
Bisa, a drug addict who has four children from three different women, explained that his friend, Hakeem Tijani, though late, introduced him to the business.
Narrating the tactics he usually employed to swindle his victims under false pretense, the suspect said: “What I usually do is called exchange. My prospective victims will have the mind of buying handset from me but unknown to them, I would have changed the real handset to soap wrapped with cut-to-size carton put inside an envelope.
“I will engage them in discussion after showing them the real phone initially, and in the process of bargaining for the price, I will change it with the aid of white handkerchief to fake phone. And I will tell them to keep the phone inside their pockets immediately, that people are watching us.
“As soon as they leave the spot, I will change my clothes to make it difficult for them to identify me in case the victim discovers that he has been duped.
“I was a refrigerator technician in Uvwie Local Government Area, Effuru in Delta State before I came to Lagos to look for greener pastures about 15 years ago. But my expectations were dashed when situations got so hard for me in the center of excellence.
“I met one young man then, Hakeem Tijani, he is late now, and he was the one that introduced this act of stealing to me. Since that time, about four years ago, this act of stealing has been my only source of livelihood.
“My first wife taught me how to smoke all sorts of hard drugs including cocaine. She later died from the complications she suffered due to much intake of hard drugs.”
The Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Deputy Superintendent of Police, DSP, Joe Offor, confirmed the arrest.
