A dispatch rider with FedEx identified as Amadi Keneth, have been apprehended by the operatives of the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team for allegedly stealing a sum of €14,000 (about N6m) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
According to media report, the rider was arrested along with a colleague, Innocent Nnorom, who allegedly helped him to change the hard currency into naira and got N30,000 from the sum. It was gathered that Kenneth had been sent from Diamond Bank branch in Oyingbo, Port Harcourt to pick up some empty bags at another branch on Ikpere Road. He reportedly found the money in an envelope left inside one of the bags. An official who gave the bag to Keneth, called him three days after to ask about the missing envelope, as the 37-year-old, who had stopped coming to work, admitted to have found the envelope and promised to return it. He, however, reneged on his promise and relocated from his residence with his wife and their newborn child. The case was subsequently reported to the police.
Keneth was said to have used part of the money to rent an apartment, buy clothes, phones, among other items before luck ran out on him on June 1 when he was tracked down at his newly rented apartment through Nnorom. Keneth, who confessed to the crime in an interview noting “I work for FedEx as a dispatch rider. On Monday, May 21, I was sent from Diamond Bank in Oyingbo to go and pick a bag at the bank’s branch on Ikpere Road. I usually go there every Monday or Wednesday to pick bags. On that Monday, I met with an official who gave me some bags. I wanted to leave with the bags when an envelope fell from one of them. I returned the envelope into the bag and left. On my way back to the bank, I opened the envelope and found some money there. It was €14,000. I dropped the bags at the office and kept the money with me, hoping that somebody would call me to ask about the envelope. I was going to the office until Thursday when I stopped. Nobody asked me about the envelope. I then changed part of the euro into naira to pay my rent and some debts. An official called to ask if I saw any envelope in the bag; I said yes and promised to return it. I packed out of the house and checked into a hotel with my family for three days. When I was getting calls from the office, we relocated to another hotel and spent three days there before I finally rented an apartment at Igwurita. I bought phones, foodstuffs and clothes from the money and bought some drugs for my baby. I gave my mother-in-law and younger brother who came to visit us N20,000 and N3,000 respectively. I gave my friend, Nnorom, N20,000 the first time he helped me to change the currency into naira. I gave him N5,000 each on second and third occasions. I lied to him and my wife that a friend in France sent the money to me. I was at home when the police came to arrest me. Altogether, I have spent about N600,000 from the money.”
Nnorom, a native of Ezinihitte, Mbaise, Rivers State, denied receiving a N30,000 gift from Keneth, claiming that he only borrowed N20,000 from the father of one pending when his own salary would be paid. He said, “A few days ago, Keneth, my colleague in FedEx, called me to help him do something. He said he was not going to work that day and that I should help him withdraw his N37,000 salary with his ATM card. He also gave me €1,000 to change into naira. When I came back with the money, I met him on the road. He said his landlord had been disturbing him about his outstanding rent. When I asked him how he got the euro, he said it was one of his friends in France who sent it to him to buy spare parts and send to France. He said part of the money was a gift from the friend. I borrowed N20,000 from him.”
Photo Credit: Getty
