Troops of Forward Operations Base in Yobe state have arrested a 43-year-old man for having 19 seed-planting machines.
The Special Adviser to Governor Mai Mala Buni on Security Matters, retired Brigadier General Dahiru Abdulsalam, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday in Damaturu, the Yobe state capital.
According to Abdulsalam, the planters were among the items the state government recently distributed to farmers for free under its Agriculture Empowerment Programme.
He said the man was arrested at about 12:10 am on Tuesday with the equipment concealed in a blue 18-seater bus with registration number: KTG 449 YG, adding that upon his arrest, the suspect could not provide any proof to show that he was a beneficiary of the programme.
According to Abdulsalam, the suspect, who hails from Jigawa State claimed that he bought the items from one Alhaji Babaji in Damaturu at the rate of N50,000.00 each, adding that he was conveying the items to resell in Dutse, Jigawa.
Abdulsalam said the suspect and the recovered items would be handed over to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for prosecution.
