A bakery worker, identified as John Emeka, has reportedly disappeared with N350,000 belonging to the bakery just weeks after he was employed.
Emeka was employed as a sales representatives at Tasty Loaf Bakery on Ajelogo Road, Mile 12, Lagos State by the owner of the company, Motunrayo Odusi.
Speaking with Punch, Motunrayo explained that they employed Emeka in good faith even though they were warned beforehand that he stole from his previous employer.
Her words,
“My husband met Emeka at a restaurant where he worked and he later introduced his friend, Victor, to my husband and pleaded to work with us.
“He called my husband on the phone after one month that he had lost his job at the restaurant and pleaded for employment, so we accepted and got him employed in our bakery.
“About two weeks after, Emeka asked if he could live in the bakery’s lodge because he had accommodation issues and we accepted him.
“Our sales representative had just resigned, so we asked Emeka to take over the position pending the time he would perfect all documentation process that included his guarantor’s form, since he wasn’t employed directly to handle sales.
“Meanwhile, his friend, Victor, had earlier warned my husband to be careful with him because he stole money where they worked together. But my husband thought it was wrong for Victor to misrepresent his friend.”
However, on Wednesday, March 16, Emeka was captured by the bakery’s CCTV fleeing with N350,000 said to be the day’s sales.
The young man left his mobile phone behind but removed the sim card and fled to Ibadan, Oyo State, where his sim was tracked to.
Confirming the theft, the Lagos Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundenyin, said,
“We found out that there was no guarantor on record for the suspect which is very important and that is why we advise Nigerians to do proper findings about their prospective employees.
“The presented guarantors can also be registered with the Police’ First Criminal Investigation Department Registry which will discourage such staff from committing crime and makes it easy to carry out investigation when necessary. But investigation is still ongoing and the culprit will soon be tracked down.”
