An ex-police officer was last Friday sentenced to eight months in prison by an Abuja magis-trates' court for stealing three car radios.

Samson Makun (35), of Force Headquarters, was on May 24, 2007, alleged to have stolen three car radios and sold them to Idowu Lamidi (18), of Masaka village, Nasarawa state, at the cost of N3,850.

The police report stated that the accused person vandalised three vehicles and stole the items when he was posted to guard vehicles and motorcycles at Luis Edet House.

The 1st accused person pleaded guilty to the charges when the first information report was read out to him.

Earlier in his plea, he said he was not caught but his instinct asked him to report to his superior officer and that he has since been dismissed from the force. He pleaded with the court to be lenient with him that he is a married man with two children and that he has been in the police detention since May, 2007 till date.

The trial magistrate, Alkali Bashiru, sentenced the 1st accused person to eight months in prison without an option of fine. He said the sentence would serve as a deterrent to the accused and other officers in a similar act.

The 2nd accused denied liability of the offence.

The counsel to the 2nd accused, Abdullahi Shitta, asked the court to grant his client bail, saying he has a reasonable surety and would not interfere with the police investigation.

The prosecuting counsel, ASP Augustine Jimmy, objected to the bail on the ground that since the 1st accused person has been sentenced, the 2nd accused can jump bail. He asked the court to fix a date for hearing

Magistrate Alkai Bashir granted bail to the accused in the sum of N100,000 with a surety in like sum. The surety must reside in the FCT with a fixed address and must have a landed property. The case was adjourned to January 15, 2007 for hearing.