YUNUSA UMAR
One Mustapha Yusuf, a 33-year-old resident and road-side mechanic in Barkin Sale, Minna has been arrested by operatives of Niger State Police Command for allegedly stealing a vehicle in Minna.
Wasiu Abiodun, the Police spokesman in the state, disclosed this in a statement made available on Friday, saying the suspect was trailed and arrested in a hotel in Gabasawa area of Kaduna.
Abiodun’s statement reads in part, “Recently, on 14/09/2022 at about 1750hrs, a complainant reported an incident of car theft at GRA Division, that on the same date at about 0900hrs, he parked his Toyota Pontiac Vibe vehicle with Reg. No. MNA 974 SK at Dutsen-Kura, by London street, Minna and when he returned afterwards, the vehicle was missing from where it was parked.
“Upon preliminary investigation, the said Mustapha Yusuf, who is a roadside mechanic and has been responsible for the maintenance of the vehicle for the past four years, was suspected for the missing vehicle.
“The investigating team made a concerted effort to locate the suspect in Minna, but he was nowhere to be found. He was finally apprehended in Kaduna State with the said vehicle after four days and during interrogation, he confessed that he stole the car from Dutsen-Kura and drove it to Kaduna and Zamfara States to sell the vehicle, with the use of imitated key which he made from the original key.
“He further confessed that he had stolen a Honda Accord vehicle at F-lay out area of Minna few years back, and a Toyota RAV4 jeep from Barkin-Sale in the year 2019. He said all the vehicles were taken to Kaduna for disposal.
“The suspect is still under investigation and he will be arraigned in court for prosecution as soon as investigation is concluded.”