Encomium
Keen students of crime encomium.ng contacted are finding it difficult to agree on the nature of the heist Seun Egbeegbe and his accomplice were plotting.
They are not united whether it was an alleged robbery or swindle.
One of the reasons the analysts could not agree it was a swindle was how the perpetrators thought they could successfully walk away with $9,000 and £3,000 without a struggle from the two bureau de change operators invited to Gbagada General Hospital.
If they had forcefully taken the money with threat of harm, it would be robbery.
But sweet talking the operators into parting with about N10 million without a struggle demanded an elaborate scam with tall tales.
The scam, according to experts, is called ‘sitting’.
Here are the elements of ‘sitting’ which appeared to have played out:
1. Use of a recognised institution.
2. Impersonation of respected professionals.
3. Throwing in a patient to make the scam more believable.
4. Repetition of a believable tale with many witnesses.
5. Use of a secret escape route (which we could not confirm was the case here).
The claim that the suspects, believed to be undergoing interrogation at Police Ogudu Command, Area H, were nabbed when they attempted to flee with the currencies suggests another dimension of ‘juju’. May be they thought they had charmed the operators…
