Undergraduate steals $1,600 from fiance’s in-law

By Evelyn Usman

A 200 Level student of a Northern state’s university has been arrested for allegedly stealing $1,600 from her fiance’s in-law’s safe and exchanging it with fake ones at Ago-Okota area of Lagos State.

The suspect, identified simply as Mercy, reportedly visited her fiance, who lives with his elder sister and her family, two weeks ago. In the course of her visit, she was alleged to have broken into a safe, removed $1,600 and left for school.

Trouble started for her after her fiance’s in-law, a businessman, opened the safe, only to discover that the money had disappeared.

During investigation, Mary was contacted on phone, where she was directed to come back to Lagos.

On arrival last Sunday, she reportedly admitted to taking the money, but took the angry family members to a corner of the house where she claimed she kept it.

However, the foreign currency, as gathered, was discovered to be fake, consequent upon which Mercy was arrested.

Speaking with Vanguard, the suspect said she regretted her action, saying it had destroyed her relationship which could have led to marriage.

She said: “I have been coming to spend holidays with my fiance at his sister’s place. On this particular occasion, his elder sister, Mrs Rachael Chukwuede, asked me to go and get ingredients from the refrigerator in her bedroom to prepare soup.

“While in the room, I saw a silver safe and asked one of her children what was inside. He (the child) went to a corner, got the key to the safe, opened it and I discovered it contained money. He said it belonged to his father.

“The next day, I went to her bedroom again to get some-thing from the refrigerator. But I ended up taking the key of the safe from where it was kept, opened it and collected some dollars. When I got inside my room I counted it and discovered it was $1600.

“Two days later, I met a young man at Okota when I went shopping with my fiance. I asked where I could change foreign currency, he said he did not know but that I should give him my telephone number with which to contact me when he finds somewhere.”

She said she later changed her mind about changing the money, collected it from the man and returned it to the house.

She claimed she didn’t know anything about the fake currencies as she only took $100 the man gave her after returning the initial $1,600.

However, her fiance’s elder sister, Mrs Rachael Chukwuede, alleged that N100,000 suspected to have been balance of the dollars she changed was found on her.

Police at Ago Division told Vanguard that the suspect was brought there Monday and had been charged to court.

 

 

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