Lagos State Police Command have arrested two suspects for alleged vandalism of NITEL underground cables in Ikeja.

The suspects, Taofeek Babatunde, and Ibrahim Sise, who were paraded at the command headquarters on Monday, were also accused of offering N500, 000 bribe to the policemen who caught them.

According to Police Commissioner, Fatai Owoseni, the suspects were caught by anti-crime patrol team of the Ikeja Police Division.

He said: “They were caught vandalising, cutting, stealing and loading the NITEL cables into a truck along Works road junction besides the Lagos State High Court. When these suspects were accosted, they offered to the bribe the policemen to cover up that crime. They had offered N500, 000 and of course the policemen played along with them and collected the money offered.

“They went ahead to arrest them after collecting the money which you can see right here. On counting the money, it was discovered that it amounted to N493, 500 and the policemen in furtherance to the call of responsible and effective policing by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) turned down the gratification.

“Those policemen stood their ground although they played along as if they were going to collect the money, which they handed over to their DPO. The N493, 500 offered as bribe, the Volvo truck with which they were about carting away the vandalised cables, the sword blades that they used as tools for cutting those underground cables and of course the cables that have been loaded in to the truck were all recovered and would be used as exhibit.

“Efforts are on to arrest the third suspect, one Wasiu Salami who is on the run. The two suspects we have would be arraigned before the court on Tuesday.”

However, Sise denied being a vandal, adding that he’s a scrap dealer who usually bought items in smaller quantities from some men.

According to him, he never knew they usually stole the items, adding that he was only told by the same group of boys that they had big business for him.

Babatunde who’s the driver said he was promised N30,000 to drive the truck, saying he agreed because he was told some policemen were part of it.