A young man whose identity was yet to be ascertained has been electrocuted in Abakaliki, capital of Ebonyi State while attempting to steal from a roadside boutique shop.
The lifeless body of the suspect was discovered on the ceiling of the shop he attempted to burgle at Number 51, Agbaja road located between Sperandeo junction and Centenary city junction axis of Abakaliki by the shop owner.
It was gathered that the electrocution was suspected to have occurred at the wee hours of May 15, 2024 while the shop owner discovered the lifeless body of the burglar the next morning upon opening her shop for the day’s business.
The man was reportedly electrocuted to death when he wanted to gain entrance into the shop through the ceiling from the nearby liquor store but could not succeed as there was burglary proof on the ceiling which had naked electric wire connected to it.
Sources said the burglar in an attempt to loot the well-fortified boutique shop fully stocked with goods, met his death inside the ceiling after coming in contact with the naked wire deliberately kept there.
A shop owner in the area, Mrs. Fortune Ogbonna, lamented that thieves loot their shops there almost on weekly basis and called on the state Commissioner of Police, Augustina Ogbodo, to increase the number of police officers on patrol towards the axis to curb the menace.
According to Ogbonna, the boutique owner purposely set the naked wire inside the ceiling and fixed burglary proof on the ceiling as preventive measures after an initial robbery incident in the same shop two months after she opened the branch.
She said the boutique seller had lost goods worth millions of naira during the first robbery incident she suffered.
“I am very happy about this incident that happened to that robber. From the look of things, light was restored in the area during the robbery incident because he had taken a few things from that boutique already; we saw some clothes and shoes littered outside. But, God caught him.
“All the shop owners on this Agbaja road suffer a lot in the hands of these bad boys almost on a weekly basis. Despite the death of that boy in that ceiling, the boys also looted a provision shop on the same line,” the trader lamented.
Pleading for deployment of police officers to the area, she said, “We plead with the state Commissioner of Police to increase the number of police officers on patrol and direct them to always visit this area. We are always losing our means of livelihood to bad boys.”
When contacted, the Police Public relations Officer in the state, DSP Joshua Ukandu said that the corpse had been evacuated from the shop and warned youths to shun all forms of crimes.
“The corpse has been evacuated already and I want to use this medium to warn youths to shun all forms of crime and make good use of their youthful ages and talents,” Ukandu admonished.