By Desire Emmanuel
A suspected vandal who belongs to a syndicate that specialises in stealing batteries from masts belonging to telecommunication companies in five states has given men of the Kebbi State Police Command details of how they used to carry out the acts.
The state police command announced the arrest in a statement on Wednesday, November 12, as it added that while the man, Abdullahi Muhammad, aged 52 years, was arrested, other members of the syndicate are currently at large.
It was gathered that on November 7, a report was received about a vehicle that was parked around Jega roundabout. Upon receiving the report, the Divisional Police Officer of Jega Police Station ordered his men to go after the vehicle.
The men were said to have found the man inside the vehicle and some items suspected to have been stolen.
When the vehicle was searched, various items, including two digging bars, one hacksaw, two pairs of scissors, one hammer, one cutter, one solar panel, 21 spanners, 21 stolen batteries, one helmet, one wire cutter, among others, were found inside.
The command wrote: “During preliminary investigation, the suspect confessed that his gang members specialised in stealing batteries of network service installations across Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi, Niger, and Nasarawa states. He further mentioned Nasiru Galashi, Yahuza and Aminu, currently at large, as his accomplices.”
He was said to have given more useful information to the police operatives while the case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Birnin Kebbi, for a discreet investigation. He is expected to be charged to court at the conclusion of the investigation.
Also, efforts to arrest the members of the syndicate are being intensified by the command.
