Benenoise houseboy steals employer’s N21m

Posted by admin Africa & World Politics, Headlines Thursday, April 13th, 2017

Olufemi Atoyebi, Ibadan

A house help from the Republic of Benin, Mathew Kudjo, has been arrested by the Oyo State Police Command for allegedly stealing $59,000 and other sums of money in local and foreign currencies, totalling N21,395,000.

The state Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Odude, who paraded the suspect at the state command headquarters in Ibadan, the state capital, said Kudjo planned to abscond to the United States, adding that he was caught in the process of leaving the country.

Odude explained that Kodjo had already built a house in his home country from the proceeds of the crime.

The commissioner said, “A Beninoise chef has been nabbed in his criminal hideout in Ibadan by operatives of the Special Anti-robbery Squad of the command after stealing a large sum of money from his employer.

“The suspect on February 12, 2017 betrayed the trust and confidence reposed in him by his benevolent master by breaking into the man’s apartment in the Ikolaba area of Ibadan, where he stole the sums of $59,000, N3.4m and other foreign currencies. After successfully carrying out the criminal act, the suspect perfected his sinister plan to abscond abroad with the loot. But through intensive investigation and high level intelligence, he was nabbed before he could escape to the US, having procured a visa.”

Odude said a sum of N1.5m, a passport and other travelling documents were recovered from the suspect.

The commissioner called on members of the public to always inform the Central Criminal Registry whenever they planned to recruit domestic workers from neighbouring countries or within Nigeria.

According to him, the registry had the capacity to check the profile of foreigners and people in the country.

Kodjo, who spoke with PUNCH Metro, said he stole the money while his employer went out to play golf, adding that he did not inform other domestic workers of his plan.

He said, “I did not let other workers know that I was stealing from our boss. He does not stay at home at all times so I was able to enter his room and steal the money. I was planning to go to the US. I have already built a house in Benin Republic with some of the money.”

-Punchwp_posts