Joy Anyim
A 47-year-old receiver of stolen goods, Audu Shettima has been tracked and arrested by the operatives of the Lagos State Police Command at Ijora Badia.
Shettima who hails from Borno State was arrested for aiding robbery activities by buying stolen items, which he also resold.
After the police had arrested the suspect, a search was conducted on his shop located at Railway Line in Badia where a police Sergeant uniform, television and radio sets, motor parts and other items were found.
The suspect, however, denied knowledge of the police uniform, saying he only buys the other items from his business partners. He claimed not know whether they were stolen or not.
“I know nothing about the police uniform. The police are only trying to rope me into what I don’t know.
“The shop where I sell things is not owned by me alone. It is even more of a house as many of us sleep there. I don’t know who specifically own or brought the police uniform. All I know is that it is not mine.
“I buy and sell television sets, if they are stolen by those I buy from, then I don’t know. I don’t do crime. I am not a criminal,” he insisted.
Similarly, one Mohammed Ismail was also arrested in the same area for possession of Indian hemp, a toy gun and three live cartridges.
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The 28-year-old suspect was arrested with large quantities of the prohibited items during a police raid.
He said, “Yes, I sell Indian hemp and have been into the business for about a year but the cartridges and toy gun are not mine. The police found them in an old box in the shop where I sell and the shop is occupied by different persons.”
When contacted for comments on the arrest of the suspects, Lagos Police Public Relations Officer, Chike Oti, promised to get back to the correspondent but was yet to do so as at the time of filing in this report.
However, a senior police officer at the Badia Police Division who did not want his name in print confirmed the arrest of the suspects. He said 10 miscreants were arrested, one had a police uniform and the other had live cartridges and Indian hemp. Cutlasses and other items were also recovered from them.
He said, “just some weeks back, the Lagos State Task Force in company with policemen from the Badia Division had gone to the Sand Field area at Railway to demolish all the shanties there because they were basically criminal hideouts.
“But surprisingly, just a week after the demolition, they had started building back the shanties.
“So, when our DPO, CSP Odutona Daniel heard of it, he led policemen to the area and arrested all the miscreants. When they searched the shanties, they found a police sergeant uniform, cartridges, Indian hemp, stolen items and many more.
“Only God knows the havoc they may have caused with the police uniform. The Division is still investigating the suspects and they will obviously be charged to court upon the conclusion of investigations.”
The names of other suspects arrested were also given as Efe Ones, Kazeem Ayegunsi, Friday Dennis, Abbah Abubakar, Mustapha Isani, Barnabas Matthew, Mohammed Ali and Ali Babagana.
