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Nigeria: Man Jailed for Stealing 20,000 Dollars From Sudanese Envoy
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Oct 7, 2010 - 7:28:51 AM

Daily Trust (Abuja)
Nigeria: Man Jailed for Stealing 20,000 Dollars From Sudanese Envoy

Hussein Yahaya and Ibraheem A. Fatai

7 October 2010

An Abuja Magistrate Court Tuesday sentenced a man to eight months imprisonment for stealing 20,000 dollars from the Sudanese Ambassador to Nigeria at the Eagle Square venue of the Nigerian 50th Independency anniversary.

Rasheed Kareem of Mabushi village, Abuja, was said to have gone to the venue of the celebration and dipped his hand into the pocket of the ambassador and picked 20,000 dollars.

Police prosecutor, Isiaka Raheem, a sergeant, had earlier told the court that on October 1, a team of policemen on special duty at the Eagles Square arrested and brought the accused to the Central Area police station for stealing the said money.

"The accused dipped his hand into the pocket of the Sudanese Ambassador to Nigeria and removed an envelope containing 20,000 dollars, an offence punishable under section 287 of the Penal Code," the prosecutor said.

He stated further that when the ambassador discovered that the money in his pocket had been removed by a thief, he quickly alerted the security men present at the scene.

"The policemen launched a search for the accused and got him arrested with the envelope containing the money," Prosecutor Isiaka said.

When the charge was read to the accused, he pleaded guilty, but claimed that he did not remove the money from the ambassador's pocket, saying he saw it on the ground and picked it.

Following his guilty plea, the prosecutor asked the court to try the accused summarily under section 157 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Magistrate Bashar Attahiru Alkali sentenced the accused to eight months imprisonment or in an alternative pay N5,000 as fine.