At least six suspects were arrested by the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Osun State for allegedly tampering with electricity metres in their residences to circumvent appropriate payment for energy consumed.
This was made known by spokesperson for the command, Kehinde Adeleke, who said operatives of the command arrested the suspects at Ota-Efun area of Osogbo during a joint operation of the Osun NSCDC and personnel of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) on Thursday.
Adeleke disclosed that the Osun NSCDC Commandant, Sunday Agboola, listen to the confession of the suspects, who said they committed the offence levelled against them.
He said, “I call on members of the public to be part of continuing efforts aimed at safeguarding critical national assets in their neighbourhood by reporting activities of vandals to Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.”
The command also paraded one Sodiq Oriola Ayanleye for fraudulently obtaining the sum of thirteen million Naira from one Samuel under the pretence of helping him to purchase five plots of land at Ikorodu, Lagos State.
According to Agboola, 40 year old Ayanleye has made confessional statement.
He revealed that the suspect said he collected the said amount but could not account for what he used the money for.
“Obtaining money under false pretence contravenes Section 419 of the criminal code of conduct and Section 1 of the advance fee fraud and other related offences, 2006,” he said.
He assured members of the public that the suspects shall be prosecuted in a court of competent jurisdiction to serve as deterrent to others.
In another news, two suspected illegal miners were arraigned on Friday before the Special Mobile Court Committee sitting in Jalingo, the capital of Taraba State.
The suspects, Abdulmajid Shuaibu, 45, and Nicholas Atalor, 54, from Bauchi State, were arraigned before the court by the Special Task Force Committee on Environmental Protection, Public Safety, and Deforestation Prohibition.
The task force, headed by Gen. Jeremiah Aliyu Faransa (retd), arrested the suspects in Zaga village of Bali Local Government Council.
The suspects, according to the committee, were apprehended while loading a truck with lithium in Zaga, an action they said violated Executive Order No. 5 of Governor Agbu Kefas.
Recall that the governor, upon assuming office, had suspended mining activities and deforestation in the state.
The prosecution counsel, Barrister Christopher Rimamshaki, told the court that the action of the suspects contravened the provisions of Sections 10 and 12 of the Taraba State Administration of Criminal Justice Law 2021.
Citing various positions of the law on the matter, the defence counsels of both respondents pleaded with the court to grant them bail to enable them to prepare for the case.
Though both suspects pleaded not guilty to the charges, the presiding judge, Justice Useni Galadima, ordered them remanded in the correctional centre until September 21, when the case will come up for hearing.