Police find the body of '7-year-old' phone thief burnt to death in a Lagos canal

The Lagos State Police Command has located the charred remains of a robbery suspect who was burnt to death by a mob in the Orile area of the state.

The state Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, said the suspect was believed to be between 20 and 25 years old, and not a seven-year-old boy lynched over garri, which went viral on the social media.

Owoseni, who noted that the lynching occurred around 4pm penultimate Saturday, said the police had contacted an emergency agency of the state government to remove the corpse.

The CP said it was wrong to put the blame on the police, as some members of the gang had been previously arrested, arraigned in court, but released on bail. He added that members of the public should join hands to fight the menace of jungle justice.

He said,

“In the course of the police investigation, it was discovered that the fellow that was lynched in the video was an adult. The police found his decomposing body in a canal somewhere in the Orile area. He was an adult of between 20 and 25 years.

The state emergency management agency was contacted to remove the corpse. Our inquiries revealed that he and two members of his gang had attacked a victim with a machete in order to snatch his wallet and mobile phone.

"It was also found out that his gang members had been operating in the area for a while. Some of the gang members had, at one time or the other, been arraigned in court and through the judicial process of securing bail, found themselves out again.

""During this particular incident, the mob collected the machete from the suspect and attacked him. In as much as we condemn all acts of impunity and people taking laws into their hands, you will agree that what happened was a societal problem.

"It would not be charitable to put the blame on the police. It is a menace that all of us should fight. The police will continue to make arrests when crimes are committed," he said.