Police arrest five for motorcycle theft, cannabis trafficking in Bauchi

The Bauchi State Police Command has arrested five suspects in connection with motorcycle theft and the trafficking of cannabis sativa within the Bauchi metropolis.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Ahmed Wakil, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday, saying that the arrests followed actionable intelligence received by the command.

According to him, on Wednesday, the command got a tip-off from a Good Samaritan through the A Divisional Police Headquarters about a specialised motorcycle theft syndicate operating in the Bakaro Area of Bauchi.

“In response, a team of detectives, led by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) A Division, CSP Musa Alhaji Hassan, launched an investigation through intelligence-led policing. Consequently, two suspects were apprehended: Abdulhamid Auwal, alias Wala, aged 20, and Aliyu Rabiu, alias Hitler, also aged 20, both residents of Bakaro, Bauchi Local Government Area,” Wakil said.

The police spokesperson added that during interrogation, the suspects confessed to conspiring with three accomplices to break into the residence of one Baba Karami at Unguwar Sarkin Kofa, Bauchi, where they stole a Bajaj motorcycle.

“The motorcycle was subsequently dismantled, packed inside a sack, and sold. Preliminary investigations revealed that the gang specialised in motorcycle theft within their neighbourhood. Further investigation identified two other suspects: Mahmood Mahmood, alias Ankula, and Ganiya, both from Bakaro,” he said.

In a separate operation, Wakil said operatives of the Command’s Rapid Response Squad, led by Suleiman Tambuwal, while on visibility patrol around Bauchi metropolis on August 23, arrested three other suspects at an incomplete building in the Asorock Mountain area of Wuntin Dada.

“The suspects – Hussaini Lawal (20), Baba Sadiq Ibrahim (18), and Wada Yusuf (21) – were caught distributing dried leaves suspected to be cannabis sativa, “he listed.

Wakil added that Lawal confessed to trafficking cannabis for over a year and named his associates.

Items recovered from the suspects included half a block of dried leaves suspected to be cannabis, six knives, two pairs of scissors, a bundle of PTF lighters, four lighters, a container of cigarette leaves (Taba), and a bunker.