Popular Nigerian journalist and broadcaster, Joey Akpan, has shared a dramatic account of how his dollars were stolen by cleaners at a hotel in Algeria and how the case was swiftly resolved within 48 hours.
Recounting the experience on X, Akpan explained that he had carefully arranged his cash in his hotel room before stepping out for breakfast.
He revealed that he tucked $200 into his jeans pocket while leaving the rest of the money on the table, only to return and find no pennies.
Akpan said he immediately stormed to the guest relations desk to accuse the hotel cleaners of theft. Although the manager initially tried to downplay the situation, he insisted on an investigation.
“They stole my money in Algeria, I started an investigation, caught the culprits, and took them to the police. Over there, where they only speak French and Arabic, the police is really your friend.
One morning, I woke up in my hotel room, counted and arranged my cash on my table, hid $200 within the smallest hip pocket in my jeans, arranged my clothes and went down for breakfast.
I took over nearly 2 hours at breakfast, because it involved eggs, lengthy reading, lots of coffee, and some cigarettes. By the time I returned to my room, it had been wiped cleaned, and my cash was missing. 6000 Algerian dinars, and the dollars.
I immediately went downstairs and turned the hotel upside down. Got to the head of guest relations desk, and told them, “your cleaners just stole my money.”
The flustered manager, then hit me with the grammatical sleight of hand: “Your money is missing?”
“No. My money isn’t missing. I’m saying, “your cleaners just stole my money. I’m making a direct accusation against your cleaners and this hotel.”
She looked at me, recognising that I was poison, and said, “we will start an investigation, and update you.”
At that point, I pulled up a seat at the reception, and said, “Oya, let’s start.”
The CCTV footage was investigated, and the cleaners were called in for questioning and searching. The cash was not found. At that point, they came to me to prove that I had the money. That was easy. I’m rarely a solo roller, so my friends and colleagues knew I had the cash. I simply called one up, and she confirmed my money story. Even down to how much I had on me.
All the security, engineers and managers asked for my permission, before they took my room apart, as I watched them search everything, without finding the missing cash.
But I had to go to work, to conduct some really important interviews, but I told them, before I left, that I understand these are grave allegations, but I just really want my money back, and the cleaners took it.
By the evening, I returned to the hotel to ask how far my investigation we started, and was immediately put in the hotel’s bus and driven to the police station HQ. With the help of my translator — the hotel’s head of security — they typed my statement in Arabic, and told me, the cleaners have been interrogated, and they’ve returned my money.
When I returned, the hotel’s manager apologized, bumped me up to a suite on the 14th floor, and offered to pay for my drinks. I took my cash back, accepted the new lodgings and a gifted loyalty program access, and went about my night.
The next day, I was back at the police station to collect my court papers. The case was going to court, and I was going to testify. But I considered the matter closed, and later told them I don’t want court, and I was done with the case.
