Juliana Francis
The Enugu State Police said it has arrested a suspect identified as 18-year-old Promise Happy, who confessed to have been stealing phones since 2022.
The Enugu State Police spokesman, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, Daniel Ndukwe, said that the teenager is a notorious phone snatcher who has been on the Police Watchlist for long.
The image manager said that the suspect had been arraigned and sentenced to three years imprisonment.
Some nongovernmental organisations in Nigeria, that are concerned about children in conflict with the law, have often advocated that such young people should be rehabilitated rather than imprisoned.
These organisations have often opined that sending them to prison, only makes them become hardened criminals or makes them to be recruited inside prison into criminal gangs.
Ndukwe said: “Police Operatives serving in the Central Police Station (CPS) of Enugu State Command, on March 8, 2024, at about 7 p.m., arrested one Promise Happy, 18, at Christ Chemist Roundabout, Enugu. He was arrested after snatching an Android phone from a passenger in a moving minibus.
“Investigation revealed that the suspect, who has been on the Police Criminal Watchlist for similar offences of stealing, is a native Ozonogogo in Agbor Local Government Area of Delta State, but resident at New Garriki Market, Awkunanaw, Enugu.
“He confessed to the crime, stating that he and gang members at large have been perpetrating the criminal act of phone-snatching since 2022, while the snatched blue-coloured Redmi Android phone was recovered from him.
“Upon conclusion of the investigation, the suspect was today, March 14, 2024, arraigned in the Enugu North Chief Magistrate Court of Enugu State, and sentenced to three years imprisonment.”
