According to a rpeort by SaharaReporters, a Nigerian family worried for their safety has put a N2 million bounty on the head of a thief, who broke into their house on Banana Island in Lagos on March 20, 2022.
The suspect, who remains on the run, gained access to the compound on the night of the fateful day by scaling the fence with the aid of a ladder after realising that the occupants of the building were not around at the time.
First observing the environment to ensure that nobody was watching him, the young man, who donned a black T-shirt and shorts, made his way straight to one of the rooms in the one-storey building after climbing down the ladder.
In a CCTV footage seen by SaharaReporters, the suspect soon came out from one of the rooms in the house clutching tightly to a bag believed to contain a huge amount of money and other valuable items he had stolen from the house.
While inside the kitchen in the house as he continued his criminal raid, he opened the fridge to check for any item of interest before eventually taking a plastic bottle and emptying the content in his mouth.
The young man thereafter went ahead to ransack other parts of the house before eventually escaping from the scene with his loot.
Though they promptly reported the incident to the nearest police station after reviewing the CCTV footage upon their return home, the family are concerned that no arrest has been made one month after the incident.
Now worried that their safety is under threat with the suspect still at large, the family has sought the help of the public to have the thief apprehended by all means.
"The suspect burgled the house and stole some valuables including a huge cash sum on March 20, 2022.
"The incident happened at Banana Island when we were not at home and it was reported at the nearest police station.
"The case is currently being investigated by the police but nothing significant has come out of it one month after.
"Although the CCTV video is amateur, anyone that knows the suspect will most definitely will be able to associate the looks to the actual person.
"Hence, a sum of N2,000,000 is hereby placed as a bounty for anyone with useful information that can lead to his arrest.
"Such persons may contact 08173271700 to share such information and be sure to receive payment immediately," a member of the family whose house was burgled told SaharaReporters.
When contacted over the incident, spokesperson for the police in Lagos, Benjamin Hundeyin, told SaharaReporters that there were ongoing efforts to apprehend the fleeing suspect.
According to him, the bounty put on the head of the suspect is allowed under the law as this will serve as motivation for members of the public to support efforts to arrest the perpetrator of the crime.
He said, "Investigation is ongoing on the case. It is not about how long it takes for an arrest to be made, it is about the dynamics at play in each particular case.
"As for the bounty placed by the family, there is nothing wrong in that, it is allowed under the law. As long as people don't resort to jungle justice when they get hold of the suspect but hand him over to the police for prosecution, it is totally fine.
"Investigations take time but I am confident the suspect will be arrested at the end of the day."