Suspected cable thief electrocuted in Lagos [SEE]

A suspected thief met his death while vandalising an electric cable on Balogun Street, Apongbon, on Lagos Island, Lagos State.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the unidentified suspect had sneaked into the community’s transformer house while there was power outage.

However, nemesis caught up with him when power was suddenly restored around 2am on Monday.

He was electrocuted and died on the spot.

Residents were said to have called officials of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, who alerted management of the Eko Electricity Distribution Company.

The General Manager, Corporate Communications, EKEDC, Mr. Godwin Idemudia, said the firm immediately turned off power supply to the area for quick removal of the corpse.

He said, “The man went into the transformer house in the community with a hacksaw and other tools. While he was cutting the cable, power was restored and he was electrocuted. This happened around 2am.

“Officials of LASEMA called me moments later, and I forwarded the message to our workmen, who turned off supply for the removal of the body.”

Idemudia, while lamenting the damage done to power infrastructure due to the activities of cable thieves, called for vigilance among residents and protection of installations.

The General Manager of LASEMA, Adeshina Tiamiyu, confirmed the incident, adding that the agency cordoned-off the scene of the incident.

He noted that before the arrival of officials, policemen in the community had taken away the corpse which they deposited in a mortuary.

The spokesperson for the police in Lagos State, ASP Olarinde Famous-Cole, said the police were still investigating the incident.

“Preliminary investigation, however, shows that a man was electrocuted while trying to cause damage to public property. The corpse has been deposited in a morgue,” he said.


( Punch)