A suspected thief has died after he was electrocuted while allegedly vandalizing a high tension electrical armored cable from a transformer on Eric Moore Road, in the Surulere area of Lagos State.
It was gathered that the unidentified suspect and his gang members sneaked into the transformer house on Tuesday, October 5, to steal cables when the incident happened.
A resident, who spoke to Punch on condition of anonymity, said that the gang had earlier stolen the transformer cable about a week ago, plunging the community into darkness.
The Eko Electricity Distribution Company replaced the cable but the hoodlums returned to vandalize the cable thinking that the distribution company had not connected it to the power source.
“The residents of Eric Moore woke up on Tuesday to discover the remains of an electrocuted young man trying to steal a high tension electrical armored cable. The unscrupulous elements stole the transformer cable about a week ago and the electric distribution company came around on Tuesday to replace it,” the resident said.
“The suspected thieves thought that the cable had not been connected to the power source yet and came back on Tuesday night to vandalize the newly replaced cable before one of them was electrocuted, while the others escaped. The body of the victim was still there as of 4 pm on Wednesday.”
A spokesperson for the Eko Electricity Distribution Company, Godwin Idemudia, confirmed the incident.
“This is what we have been telling the public to help us; say something when you see something. Vandals are wreaking havoc on our network. It has increased in the last two months plus.” Idemudia said.
Confirming the incident, the spokesperson of the Lagos State Police Command, Adekunle Ajisebutu, said the corpse had been removed by officers of the Lagos State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit and deposited in a morgue.
“The CP, Hakeem Odumosu, has ordered that investigation should be carried out, while he warns criminals against vandalizing public facilities,” he added.