The police in Akwa Ibom State have arrested four suspects regarding the burglary of four Fire Service trucks belonging to the state Fire Service.
The state chief of police, CP Baba Azare, unveiled this during his maiden preparation held at the command’s headquarters, Ikot Akpan-Abia, Uyo, the state capital on Monday.
Azare said the suspects were arrested following solid information from a decent Samaritan that the trucks were stolen and taken to Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
He added that the agents got the ball rolling and further investigation uncovered that the trucks were rented out to some multinational companies at the rate of N140,000 per truck per day for an underlying time of three years.
Azare expressed, “In light of the credible information from a Good Samaritan four of the state fire service trucks were stolen and taken to Port Harcourt, River State by some officials of the service.
“The Order moved to recover the said trucks and further investigation revealed that the fire trucks were leased out to some multinational companies at the rate of N140,000 per truck per day for an initial period of 3 years. The link company share was N80,000 while the fire service officials share stood at N60,000 per truck per day, the deal was done in 2021 and was expected to terminate by 2024.
“Be that as it may, about two months before the lapse of the deal the command acted and recovered the vehicles. The four suspects arrested in the case will be charged in court soon while the trucks will be released to the Government to keep on serving the good people of the state while we continue to look for others at large.”
The commissioner of police who highlighted other breakthroughs recorded by the order within the period under review said that the command arrested two in connection with the destruction of transformers, six suspects arrested regarding the raping of a 13- year’s old girl for three years while a director in the Ministry of Justice who was kidnapped was likewise rescued among others.
On destruction, Azare said that operatives have arrested two suspects regarding the vandalization of a transformer belonging to Sure Foundation Polytechnic situated at Ikot Atai, Ukanafun Local Government.
He uncovered that the transformer oil valued at about N800,000.00 was depleted, while armoured cables valued at about N3.5m were stolen.
He said, “You may recall that during my first official visit to His Excellency the Executive Governor of the state, he decried the rising cases of vandalization of Public transformers and infrastructural facilities across the state.
“We have subsequently increased our efforts to nip the crime and arrest the culprits of this act. To this note we have arrested one Prosper Brownson Jim and one Uduak Sunday Benson for vandalization of a transformer belonging to Sure Foundation Polytechnic situated at Ikot Atai, Ukanafun Local Government.
Speaking on the rescue of a director in the state ministry of Justice, Azare said, “On December 2024, a distress call was gotten that a Director with the Ministry of Justice, Akwa Ibom State, and his niece were abducted by five armed men. Our agents in the Command immediately swung into action and busted the criminals’ den in a thick forest located within Ikot Ukpong Village, Abak Local Government.
“An exhaustive search was conducted within the forest, and the casualties were rescued unharmed from an abandoned soak-away. The casualty’s vehicle was likewise recovered by the police along Etinan Road where it had been deserted.
“Additionally, the Toyota Sienna vehicle used to hijack the casualties was likewise recovered while 2 of the suspects were killed. Further Investigation prompted the arrest of one Ability Etim Samuel and David Vincent Samuel.”
