- Safiu Kehinde
The Niger State Police Command has arrested three suspects found in possession of vandalised armoured cables in Minna.
SP Wasiu Abiodun, the Command’s spokesperson, disclosed this in a statement on Monday in Minna.
The suspects were arrested on April 14 at about 8:50 a.m., following credible intelligence.
According to Abiodun, a police patrol team attached to Maje Division intercepted an ash-coloured Volkswagen vehicle with registration number ABC 852 GN along the Kaduna-Abuja Expressway.
The vehicle was driven by one Ibrahim Aminu, 23, of Abuja, in company of Isah Jafar, 26, a scrap dealer from Jabi, and Yusuf Aminu,19, of Gauraka.
“The vehicle was conveying a quantity of vandalised, burnt, cut-to-size armoured cables reasonably suspected to be property of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC),” he said.
Abiodun said that Jafar confessed during interrogation that the cables were vandalised in the Central Area of Abuja in collaboration with an accomplice identified as Dini of Jabi.
“He stated that they were transporting the items to Suleja to find a buyer,” the spokesperson added.
He said that exhibits recovered from the suspects included two handsaws, a hammer, a chisel and the vandalised cables.
The police spokesman said that investigation was ongoing and that the suspects would be prosecuted accordingly.
In a related development, Abiodun said the command foiled an armed robbery attempt and recovered a locally made pistol in Minna.
He said that on April 19 at about 9:00 a.m., Tudun-Wada Division received a report of a robbery incident in Sauka-Kahuta area of the town.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that at about 2:30 a.m., a gang of six men armed with a gun and cutlasses broke into a residence and robbed an occupant of two mobile phones.
“While attempting to access another room, the occupant resisted and injured one of the suspects with a cutlass, forcing the gang to flee the scene,” he said.
Abiodun said that the suspects abandoned a locally made pistol, a cutlass, a pair of slippers and a flashlight, which were recovered by police.
He added that efforts were ongoing to apprehend the fleeing suspects and recover the stolen items.