Police nab female ex-convict, accomplice for allegedly stealing $20,000

A 29-year-old lady, Margaret Sunday Udoh, was arrested for stealing $20,000 two months after being released from the Kirikiri correctional facility in Lagos.

The lady, who hails from Akwa Ibom State, was arrested on July 28, after completing a year’s jail term on January 20, before returning to crime in March 2024.

Ms Udoh has worked in 10 different places across Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Lagos State.

Her first prison experience happened after she stole from her employer in Ikate, Lagos State.

The Guardian learnt that she stole a wristwatch worth N22 million and €1,500 before she was arrested and sentenced to one year in the Kirikiri correctional facility.

She came out in January, got a job as a house help in March 2024, and stole $20,000, but claimed that she only stole $12,300.

The suspect had the support of the security guard, Emmanuel Ozogie from Nasarawa State, to whom she gave $300 and moved to Ebonyi State.

The police recovered $3,100 from her while she gave part of the money to her father to commence his building.

Confirming the development yesterday, the spokesperson for Lagos State Police Command, Benjamin Hundeyin, said: “She is smart. To avoid being tracked, she dumped her phone with the SIM in a spot in Lagos without switching it off. So, while the police were tracking the phone, she was out of Lagos.

“After she stole the money, her employer, who failed to do due diligence before employing her or asking about her family or where she stays, reported to the police. We started an investigation, which led us to Ebonyi State, where she was arrested. The suspects are to be charged to court soon.”

Speaking with The Guardian at the police headquarters in Ikeja, the suspect claimed that it was greed that led her to commit the crime.

According to her, she started working as a house helper in 2015 in Port Harcourt and has been sending all the money she makes to her parents to support them. She said that her first crime was committed in the Ikate area of Surulere in Lagos.

“I have worked with 10 people and only stole from two. I left Port Harcourt because the work was stressful and moved to Delta State, where I spent only five months because the workload was heavy.

“I returned to Port Harcourt, then moved to Bayelsa State before coming to Lagos in 2019, where I worked as a house help in Ikorodu. I spent two months and then moved to Chevron, where I spent five months but left because I couldn’t cope.”

“I worked with a family in Jakande Estate, spent a year, and then six months with one Gbemisola. I left after six months because she told me she couldn’t afford to pay my salary. I then worked with one Alexandra, but the person relocated abroad.

“I worked in Ikate, where I stole the money and the wristwatch. I was jailed, and I came out on January 20. One Mr Emmanuel linked me with Miss Adeyemi, but he knows nothing about this. I was interviewed on March 3, 2024, and resumed work the next day as a house helper. One day, I saw $12,300 in her wardrobe, and I informed Emmanuel, the gateman, who advised me to take the money. I gave him $300, and we moved from the house on March 10, 2024 and went to the park.

Asked about his involvement, 27-year-old Ozogie said: “I have been working there for three years, and I never got involved in this situation. I lost my father, my mother and my brother, and I have been struggling to do what God assigned me to do, which is preaching to people.

“I used to preach to her, and I encouraged her. I warned her that the woman would find her, but she convinced me that she couldn’t be arrested. She told me that she liked me and wanted to settle down with me. I was also looking for a woman to settle down with, and I was told that she was the one God assigned for me. She left me at the park, and street urchins took the money. I regret getting involved.”