A gang of suspected thieves who specialise in stealing industrial power generators have been apprehended by men of the Bauchi State Police Command.
The suspects were nabbed in the Azare town of the Katagum Local Government Area of the State, according information made available by the state Commissioner of Police, CP Auwal Musa Muhammad.
Muhammad said the gang confessed to having carried out a series of operations in the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) and Cold Room close to the NTA station within the town.
The suspects as identified by the police boss include Adamu Ibrahim ‘m’ 30 of Zigau in Shira Local Government Area, Ibrahim Adamu ‘m’ aged 22 of Azare, Musa Aliyu alias Manager ‘m’ 48 of Gwoza, Borno State, Umar ‘m’ of Azare, Alh Sani ‘m’ of Kano State.
Others are Sani Adamu ‘m’ 22 of Gadau, Itas-Gadau LGA; Rilwanu Saidu ‘m’ of Kano State; Victor Moses ‘m’ aged 29 of Hotoro via Fagge LGA, Kano State; Isaac Success ‘m’ 35 of Sabon Gari, Kano State; Adamu Ahmad ‘m’ Azare town, Katagum LGA; and Destiny Ihekwoabah ‘m’ aged 35 of Dutsen Bukuma, FCT Abuja; the receiver of some of the stolen generators.
The CP also disclosed that seven Mikano generators were recovered from the suspects.
According to the CP, “During interrogation, the said Adamu Ibrahim stated that he was introduced to the gang through one Umar Abdullahi of Azare town, who is a friend of Alh. Sani ‘m’ of Kano State.
“The suspect participated in two operations carried out within Azare town and benefitted sixty thousand naira (60,000) from the first operation and fifty thousand naira (N50,000) as his share of the proceeds of the crime in the second operation from the gang leader “Alh. Sani” of Kano State.”
“The said Ibrahim Adamu corroborated the statement mentioned above. That he benefitted thirty thousand naira (30,000) from the proceeds of the crime. The third suspect Musa Aliyu, popularly known as Manager, who was residing in Mopol base Dutse, Jigawa State, stated that this was his first operation with the group along Azare-Giade road in an MTN mast with a J5 bus where they tied the security guard and stole away one Mekano Marapko generator white in color in the year 2022.
“In 2023, precisely October, he participated in two other separate operations at the Cold Room medicine store opposite NTA Television station Azare and the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) Azare Study Center along Kano-Azare road and stole Mikano Generator from the two locations.
“He confessed that he benefitted fifty thousand naira (50,000) for the first operation and thirty thousand naira (30,000) for the second operation as his proceeds of crime. He equally confessed to having participated in other several operations in Jigawa State and stole one mixer machine in Dutse, Jigawa State close to the House of Assembly Quarters, One Basic Generator in an old water reservoir along Gujungu via Taura LGA Jigawa State, and one Mekano in Garo LGA Kano State. He benefitted the sum of fifty-five thousand nairas (55,000) from the three operations carried out in Jigawa and Kano States, respectively.”+