Police Quash Car-snatching Syndicate, Recover 10 Vehicles, Other Items
By Anne Osemekeh, Abuja
Operatives of the Zone 7 Police Command Headquarters which supervises the FCT and Niger State Police Commands, have arrested 6 suspects for their involvement in car snatching, criminal conspiracy among other criminalities.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Zone 7 Command Headquarters, DSP M.B Abdulkadir, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday, saying the arrests were made possible following intelligence gathering.
The suspects, Solomon Nuhu, Faruk Umar, who specializes in car snatching at gun point, Bolaji Yusuf and Lawal Yusuf were arrested for the crimes of criminal conspiracy, armed robbery, murder, being in possession of stolen vehicles and unlawful possession of prohibited firearm.
Preliminary investigation led the detectives to recover 32 phones of different makes and a 9mm beretta pistol live ammunition in the possession of Faruk Umar. In the course of investigation, the Beretta pistol was recovered from one Solomon Nuhu who claimed he bought it from Faruk Umar at the rate of One Hundred and thirty thousand naira only (N130,000).
Bolaji Yusuf and Abubakar Umar were arrested at Heart Plaza, Maraba, where two vehicle master keys were found in Bolaji’s possession with three stolen phones and a bunch of car keys.
One Haruna Akubo, aka Young Alhaji, was also apprehended by police detectives attached to the Special Investigation Squad of the Zone 7 Headquarters, Abuja via actionable intelligence.
Akubo’s arrest led to the recovery of 5 suspected stolen vehicles from L.Y Nadabo Motors, opposite One Man Village Shopping Center, Karu LGA of Nasarawa State.
According to the Police PRO, the team of detectives also traced some of the vehicles to Ankpa LGA of Kogi State, where 5 other cars were recovered, including a Lexus IS 250 whose owner was said to have been killed in the process of snatching the vehicle, with the killer, Ibrahim Umar a.k.a Godiya, still at large.
“A total of 10 vehicles of different brands were recovered from the syndicate, with all their chassis numbers altered. Other items recovered include; 1 fabricated Beretta pistol with 1 live ammunition, 3 laptops of different makes, 1 LG Television set, 32 mobile phones of different makes, fabricated car master keys, 2 POS machines, 13 used sim cards, 14 packs of sim cards and other phone kits”, Abdulkadir stated.
Meanwhile, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone 7 Headquarters, Abuja AIG Ogundele Ayodeji, has ordered for a comprehensive investigation into the case, after which the suspects will be charged to court for prosecution.
He has also urged citizens of the FCT to be vigilant as they go about their day to day activities, and to report any suspicious activities to the police, while assuring that “the Nigeria Police Force is steadfast in carrying out its mandate of protecting lives and properties”.
