If you ever find yourself in Nigeria, don’t even think about stealing any towels from your hotel room. Just like Singapore Airlines taking inventory of the silverware at the end of each flight, apparently the Hilton in Nigeria keeps a close watch on their guest amenities.
A court in Nigeria convicted a woman of stealing two towels and an iron from the Transcorp Hilton Abuja Hotel in Nigeria’s capital.
A security guard at the Hilton last year caught the woman, Bilikisu Dowodu, with the goods as she tried to leave the hotel grounds, the article on AllAfrica.com says. He then reported her to the police.
Promotion time for the security guard!
The woman was ordered to pay a fine of about $20 or spend three months in jail.
With average per capita income in Nigeria at $2,300 I doubt she’ll opt for the jail sentence. Then again, maybe the good folks at "Locked Up Abroad" could make it worth her while. Three months in a Nigerian prison for lifting towels could be of some interest.
"The accused…conspired with one Jane of room number 864, Transcorp Hilton Hotel, now at large, to steal a pressing iron, hand towel and face towel from the room," the prosecutor told a courtroom.
Jane will merely be publicly flogged.
The woman pleaded guilty, but said she didn’t know the items were stolen by her friend who had asked her to carry them in a bag out of the hotel.
Of course she didn’t know. What? Oh, those towels? I’ve never seen them before in my life…
Jesting aside, I’ve certainly stayed at many hotels where I had desire to take home a plush bath towel as a "souvenir". While I doubt New York’s finest is going to come chasing after you if you lift a towel from the Manhattan Hilton, just remember poor Bilikisu if the urge to steal ever enters your mind.
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