A domestic help has been arrested in Lagos for allegedly stealing his employer’s property just 11 days after his employment.

WuzupNaija gathered that Ben Peters, whose real name is Usang Effiong, and his accomplice, one Matthew Abam, allegedly made away with a Toyota Camry saloon car, $5,000, six new shirts and a Motorola mobile telephone.

According to the police, Peters and Abam were arrested following a petition by his employers, Mr and Mrs Okoye, to the state Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, alleging that Peters was in their house for 11 days and stole their valuables.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Chike Oti, said based on the petition, the CP directed that a manhunt be launched for the fleeing domestic help.

Oti said in a statement that Peters was arrested in his hideout in the Agege area of Lagos two months after he disappeared.

The PPRO added that investigation revealed that the suspect’s real name is Usang Effiong and not Ben Peters as he made his employers believed.

The statement read in part,

“On October 24, 2018, Mr and Mrs Okoye cried out to the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Edgal Imohimi, through a petition, complaining of how one Ben Peters, who was with them for just 11 days, stole their valuables, including their Toyota Camry saloon car 2008 model, $5,000, six new shirts and a Motorola Android phone.

“Based on their complaint, the CP directed CSP Kemi Adedeji and the team attached to the command’s human rights section to launch a manhunt for the fleeing domestic help. On December 18, 2018, barely two months after the incident, Ben Peters was arrested at a hideout in Agege, Lagos, and some of the stolen items recovered from him.

“Meanwhile, the suspect has confessed to how he committed the crime. He narrated that he noted where Mr Okoye usually hid his bedroom key and to gain access to it, he needed to duplicate the living room’s key; so, he went ahead and made a copy of the living room’s key.

“It was on October 23 that he made up his mind to break into the couple’s bedroom. And to do so undetected, he disconnected the CCTV camera that would have recorded his activities, picked up the bedroom key and constructively broke into the couple’s room, stole their valuables and thereafter, drove off with their car.”

Oti added,

“The suspect stated that robbing the couple was easy for him because the domestic help they dismissed before employing him, one Matthew Abam, is a member of his syndicate and he had furnished him with relevant information about the couple even before he came to live with them.

“The CP urges employers of domestic servants to be painstaking in carrying out background checks on them in order to minimise situations whereby unverified servants take advantage of employers.

“Both suspects are currently undergoing interrogation with a view to helping the police arrest their partners in crime and recover the stolen items.”