A 28-year-old tricycle operator, Sani Abdullahi, resident of Anguwa three quarters, has been arrested by the Gombe State Police Command for allegedly stealing from his passengers.
Abdullahi was said to, on two occasions, sped off with goods of his passengers upon arrival at their destination.
According to a press statement issued by the Command’s Public Relations Officer, ASP Mahid Abubakar, crime has taken another shape, and the Command under Commissioner of Police Oqua Etim will double effort to fish out the criminal elements and bring them to book.
He lamented how Abdullahi sped with items bought by a police officer’s wife and the charcoal of a trader in Nayinawa area, revealing that the officer already noted his tricycle details before being alerted to the incidence.
The statement partly read, “On the 7th February, 2023 at about 5pm the Operation Hattara, which is an operational outfit under the police force Gombe State command, intercepted a suspect named Sani Abdullahi, 28 years old, a resident of Anguwa three quarters who is a tricycle operator popularly known as Keke NAPEP.
“On the said date, Insp. Hamza Muhammad attached to 34 PMF Gombe boarded a tricycle with his wife from the Gombe main market to Yalenguruza quarters Gombe alongside the goods purchased from the market valued fifty thousand naira #50,000. The husband dropped along Bank road leaving his wife to complete the journey to their residence. On arrival, the wife alighted with her child and before she removed the food items, the suspect zoomed off with the items to an unknown destination.”
While disclosing that the receiver of the stolen items who bought the items for N4000 was also arrested for an offence of receiving stolen property, Abubakar noted that the suspects had confessed to committing the offence, and would be charged to court for prosecution.
“Similarly on the 09/02/2023 the suspect repeated same act on one of his customers who boarded the tricycle with three bags of charcoal leaving her helpless at Nayinawa quarters which led to his arrest by the tricycle riders association of Gombe, and immediately handed over to Operation Hattara who gave out his details to the association in connection to the first case,” the statement added.
