Efforts by the emergency responders from the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service led to the rescue of a suspected burglar who plunged into a well in an attempt to escape after a failed operation in Ojokoro, Ifako-Ijaye Local Government Area of the State.
The rescue operation by the service was carried out on Saturday inside the premises the suspect broke into to escape.
The suspect was a 19-year-old man, who identified himself as Michael Joseph and claimed to hail from Ogun State.
The Eagle Online reliably gathered that the accused gained access to the same premises, with a house still under construction, on Thursday, in Banjo Owoyele Street and stole the wheelbarrow and some items used by workers at the site.
Luck however ran against him after breaking into the same premises on Saturday morning, as he was sighted by the site Coordinator, who immediately raised the alarm, calling neighbours and residents’ attention to the development.
Realising this, the hoodlum jumped the first and second perimeter fence, to escape to the third premises, in Oke street – where he met his waterloo.
The resolute neighbours, who trailed the accused, stormed the premises, searched the backyard and saw him plunging into a deep, but slightly water-filled well.
As Joseph hibernated inside the well, residents made distress calls to emergency responders, including the Fire Service and the police.
While the police arrived around 11am, the Fire Service team got to the scene around 12 noon.
The first attempt into the well by the Fire dive man was unsuccessful, as the suspect was allegedly not willing to cooperate with the rescue officer.
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However, after pumping pressured water on him, the accused replied from the depth of the well that he was ready to be rescued and cooperate with the rescue officer inside the well.
In about 20 minutes, the rescue hand staff came out of the well and the suspect was pulled out alive by the rescue team, joined by the residents.
Speaking with The Eagle Online, the accused confessed that he had earlier broken into the same premises to steal aluminium and Saturday’s operation was his second attempt.
Joseph claimed he lives at the neighbouring U Turn area of Abule Egba, alleging that the stolen items were usually sold to the cart pushers, generally called Bola, at N1,500 per kilo.
When he was asked how he knew the premises he came to operate, the suspect, who said his skill was “casting”, claimed that he had long ago been recruited among the labourers who did the flooring of the one-storey building.
The suspect after the rescue operation and questioning was immediately driven to Ojokoro Police Station by the security operatives who have been on stand by.
