Suspected cable thief electrocuted in Edo

File photo

A suspected serial cable thief identified as Omoivie has been electrocuted while attempting to steal some cables at Faith Street off Owina road in Oredo local government area of Edo State.

The victim’s corpse was still lying at the High Voltage Distribution System (mini transformers) from where he attempted to steal the cable at the time of filing this report.


Residents in the area said they believed the cable thief was killed between 2:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. because they experienced power fluctuations at the time.

The Nation gathered that officials of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) are yet to connect residents in the area to the HVDS.

A landlord in the street, Okhuorabo Isaac, said they were surprised to see the body of the suspect when they woke up on Thursday morning.

“We always bought cables for our transformers and they were stolen in this area.”

Another resident, Believe Ovamwanta, said,

“We saw a boy lying down with a plier by his side. There was electricity when the incident happened. The boy was killed because of induction of the wires.”

Some sympathizers at the scene identified the suspect and said he was just released from prison after spending months awaiting trial for cable theft.