Photo: 20 year old man arrested for giving false information to the police

20-year old boy, Sarduna Onum pictured wearing the red and grey shirt, has been arrested by police officers attached to the Onikan Police station in Lagos state for allegedly giving false information to the police that armed men attacked and robbed him of money and handsets.

According to PM News, the suspect had succeeded in this criminal act for about three years and in different states including Bayelsa, Rivers, Ogun and other states.

His MO is to deceive the police with false information that he was robbed by a particular person and the police in turn will arrest the accused person and force them to return the items allegedly stolen from Sarduna. Luck however ran out on him when on March 8th, he went to the Onikan police Division, Ikoyi Lagos to lodge a complaint that some men robbed him of the sum of N100,000 and a Tecno handset at Ikoyi area of Lagos.

While he was narrating his alleged false story to the police officers at the station, a newly transferred female police officer who in August last year investigated a similar case the boy reported at a police station in Bayelsa, raised an alarm and said the boy was a fraud, saying she had investigated a similar case for the boy in Bayelsa State and discovered that he was a liar.

When interrogated, Sarduna allegedly confessed that he feeds on giving false information to the police. He said he makes up stories of how he was attacked by robbers.

“I started visiting Police Stations to give false information that some men robbed me of money and handsets which was not true due to hardship I suffered after my father died few years ago. And I have given false information of robbery attack on me to the police in Bayelsa ,Rivers, Ogun and Lagos states and the Police always believe me because to my age and innocent look. And when they lead me to the crime scene, I will point at innocent people as the suspects, and the police will arrest them and take them to the station unknown to them that I fabricated the allegations just to get money to survive. And at the station, I will threaten the police to charge the suspects to court or I write a petition against them, and with the threat, all the arrested suspects will find a way to refund what I claimed they stole from me. And the police have not been able to detect that I was lying until the female officer who investigated a similar case for me in Bayelsa State last year exposed me when she saw me narrating the same robbery story to the police at Onikan Division, Ikoyi, Lagos. I believe Almighty God wants me to repent that is why he sent the police officer who investigated a similar case I reported at a police station in Bayelsa State last year to Lagos to expose me. I am appealing to the Nigerian Police to forgive me for deceiving them to arrest innocent people for me to extort money from them”.

After the police finished the interrogation, Sarduna who does not have a fixed address, was arraigned before an Igbosere magistrates’ court on a two-count charge of felony to wit and giving false information to the police to defraud members of the public. He pleaded not guilty to the alleged crime. He was admitted on a N50,000 bail with two sureties in like sum.

He is being remanded at the Ikoyi prison until the next hearing of his case which comes up on April 25th.