Thieves Burgle Govt Warehouse for LAKE Rice …. Two Held

Two suspects have been arrested for allegedly breaking into a government warehouse to steal bags of the popular LAKE rice, early this month.

The rice was specially produced through the collaboration of the Lagos and Kebbi state governments to make the commodity affordable for Nigerians, especially during the last holiday season.

The suspects, Nuru Rabiyu and Ahmed Salisu, allegedly conspired with others at large to steal the rice at the warehouse, at Iyana Iba, in Ojo local government area of the state.

The suspects, who claimed to be cart pushers, said they were not aware that the rice was stolen and were only hired by a man they could not identify to convey some goods.

One of the suspects, Rabiyu, spoke with Newsmakers at the state command headquarters, in Ikeja, on Thursday.

He said, “I am a cart pusher at the Iyana Iba area. I was about sleeping in the night when a man came to hire me for a special job. He also said I should get two of my colleagues to join me, but I was able to get only one person. He then took us to a warehouse, where we loaded the bags of rice into our wheel barrows. I had loaded about 12 bags, when we started hearing gunshots. My colleague and I were arrested by the police, but the man that hired us escaped.”

Lagos State police boss, Mr Fatai Owoseni, who confirmed the arrest, promised that police would arrest the fleeing members of the gang.