The saying: ‘Everyday for the thief, one day for the owner’ couldn’t have been more apt in this context.

However, many Nigerians who have suffered from this scam, will agree that this unfortunate thief serves more as a scapegoat for every other person who has committed the soap-filled phone scam.

54-year-old Michael Bisa has been arrested for allegedly selling fake phones to customers in Oshodi on Saturday at about 5pm.

Bisa disguised the phones as bars of soap and sold to his customers.

In his defense, the father of four said it was poverty that drove him to sell bars of soap as mobile phones.

“What I did to my customers is called exchange. The people who came to me to buy mobile phones would be shown a real phone. But while we were discussing the price, I would carefully hide the phone in a white handkerchief and swap it with a bar of soap which I had already cut to size and put in a phone case.

“As soon as they left the spot, I would change my clothes so that the buyer would not recognise me again.”

But ironically, he’s been unapologetically doing the ‘job’ for four years now.

“I was a refrigerator technician in Delta State. I came to Lagos to look for greener pastures about 15 years ago. When the situation got so hard for me, I met a friend, Hakeem Tijani, who is now late. He was the one who taught me the job. Since that time, about four years ago, I have been surviving this way.”

The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Joe Offor, confirmed the arrest, adding that the suspect would be charged to court soon.

Ada Igboanugo