Operatives of the Niger State Police Command have taken five suspects into custody in connection with a string of criminal offences, including highway truck tampering, animal rustling, device theft, and the vandalism of power installations. These security clampdowns, executed across multiple jurisdictions between October 27 and November 3, also resulted in the retrieval of stolen livestock, a communication device, and housebreaking implements.
According to an official release issued in Minna by the command's spokesperson, SP Wasiu Abiodun, patrol teams from the Maje Division intercepted a commercial Sharon mini-bus along the busy Kaduna-Abuja Expressway during the early hours of November 3, specifically around 4:15 am. The vehicle, steered by one Alkasim Mohammed who hails from Mararaba in Nasarawa State, was reportedly being operated by a four-man syndicate targeting cargo trucks transit-bound along major transport corridors.
Authorities revealed that the syndicate had previously targeted a heavy-duty lorry transporting pharmaceutical goods originating from Onitsha and heading towards Kano. The perpetrators allegedly deployed chisels to compromise the vehicle's padlocks and security seals before law enforcement intervened. While Mohammed was successfully apprehended at the scene, three of his suspected accomplices managed to flee into adjacent vegetative terrain. Law enforcement agents recovered several implements from the intercepted vehicle, encompassing a jackknife, a pair of pliers, a hammer, and chisels.
How were other suspects apprehended in Suleja and surrounding areas?
In an unrelated development within Suleja, law enforcement officers detained 34-year-old Suleiman Ibrahim after he was spotted transporting two white sheep towards the Maje Market under suspicious circumstances. Police reports indicate that intervention teams had to extract the individual from an impending mob attack before transporting him to a safe police facility for interrogation.
During subsequent questioning, the suspect directed investigators to the rightful owner of the animals. This identification process facilitated the subsequent apprehension of a 50-year-old accomplice, Zaiyanu Adamu, who is accused of operating as a receiver of stolen livestock.
Furthermore, law enforcement personnel detained a 31-year-old resident named Ishaq Abubakar following accusations that he forcibly dispossessed a 12-year- old minor of his mobile phone within the Kwamba Mayor neighbourhood on November 3. Following a search of a nearby bush where the suspect sought refuge, the missing handset was retrieved concealed within his undergarments.
In a final operation, officers arrested Ibrahim Gada in connection with the pillaging of electrical transformer components serving a residential community, a crime officially logged on October 28. Investigators have secured a portion of the missing hardware while active operations continue to recover remaining parts.
All five detained individuals remain in police custody undergoing formal interrogation, while tactical units continue active manhunts for the three remaining fugitives linked to the highway cargo incident.