Heartwarming! Trader Gets N100,000 Gift For Rice Stolen By Man Who Used Boy As ‘Collateral’

Only about 24 hours after PUNCH’s report on how a retailer on Felicia Oke Street in the Olowora area of Lagos, Olabisi Opeyemi, was devastated by the stealing of two 50-kilogramme bags of rice worth N60,000 from her shop, succour has come her way.

A good Samaritan who read about the incident in Saturday PUNCH contacted her and transferred N100,000 into her account.

The PUNCH had reported that a suspected thief disguised as a customer to steal two bags of rice from her shop on Thursday, using a 15-year-old innocent boy resident in the area as ‘collateral.’

The suspect, still at large, had made Opeyemi’s younger sister, Alima, who was in the shop at the time, believe that the boy was his brother and that their mother had a shop nearby.

Leaving the boy behind, he reportedly went away with the staple on a commercial motorcycle, promising that he would return soon to pay.

Alima realised she had been defrauded when the teenager told her that he didn’t know the man and that he was only asked to assist him in carrying a load at the shop.

Speaking to Sunday PUNCH on Saturday, elated Opeyemi said the good Samaritan, who earlier contacted our correspondent, reached out to her and asked her to forward her bank account details.

The trader said she did so in good faith, adding that she was shocked when she received a N100,000 alert from the good Samaritan.

She said, “I didn’t believe the person until I received a credit alert of N100,000. It was a huge relief for me. I am really happy. I get the goods on credit and pay after sales. It is the little profit I make from it that I live on.

“I used to do home delivery until just last month when I was able to rent the shop. The incident happened on my sister’s first day in the shop. I was at home that day because I was ill.”