Abdulhameed Ibrahim, 27, a graduate of the University of Medina, Saudi Arabia, was arrested after a CCTV footage in a bank in Ogudu, Lagos, revealed his stealing activities in the bank. The state Commissioner of Police, CP, Fatai Owoseni, said Ibrahim is an unrepentant and remorseless robber who had served jail terms in Plateau and Kaduna states for a similar offence.
Ibrahim, while confessing before newsmen, said he was a former staff of the Saudi Arabia Embassy but was deported in 2011. He explained that he only stole money from careless banks and cashiers and had invested the money by buying cocaine which he subsequently sells in Abuja..
His words: “I have made over N20m since I started stealing in banks. I started the operation last month when I came to Lagos from Plateau State. I used the money I got from the bank to buy cocaine. I sell the cocaine in Abuja. I made double the price I bought the drug.
Before I go into the bank, I have a friend called Segun; who prepares the ground for me with the assistance of an insider in the bank. On this particular occasion, I went into the bank to deposit money in the bulk room. When I got there, I discovered some amount of money was carelessly placed on the counter.
I smartly took it without the female cashier seeing me. She was engrossed in a novel she was reading. I walked out of the bulk room and nobody stopped me. I got home and counted the money; it was N1.5m. The personnel of the internal security of that bank just don’t understand their job.
The bank where I stole the money is careless. They display their money without minding who comes into the banking hall. I have studied those at the bank; if I had another opportunity, I would love to go to the same bank branch to steal. They are careless. I love hard drugs. Since I came back to Nigeria, I’ve been into this act of stealing to sustain my drug life.”…. n I thank God for it….