A suspected burglar, Muhammad Hamisu has been arrested by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Jigawa State Command.
During the arrest, 99 pairs of keys were recovered from the 49-year-old suspect.
Spokesperson of the corps in the state, CSC Adamu Shehu, who disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday, August 2, 2023, said the suspect confessed to have broken into shops in five different locations in Kano and Jigawa States.
“One Muhammad Hamisu ‘M’ aged 49 of Bachirawa Quarters, Ungogo LGA, Kano State was arrested by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Jigawa State Command on a suspected case of Burglary and Criminal trespass, contrary to section 346 and 342 and punishable under section 349 and 348 of the penal code law of Jigawa State,” the statement read.
“The suspect was arrested on Saturday, 29th of July, 2023 in the morning around 0300hrs by a crop of shop owners who earlier had their shop’s broken within the vicinity of Zakariyya Plaza along Abdullahi Maikano Way opposite former Hasina restaurant
“He was arrested when they saw him breaking into the shop of one of their colleague, Mohd Umar Ibrahim, an exotic cap seller who later confirmed that his shop was previously broken thrice with caps and cosmetics worth hundreds of thousands stolen.
“Upon interrogation, the suspect who is into key cutting and duplicating business stated to have boarded a taxi from Kano State on Friday, 28th July 2023 with intent to steal and arrived Dutse around 1100pm, then started wandering about until he came along the Plaza which made a perfect target
“He thereafter decided to join water vendors who usually sleep within and pretended to be one of them. But unknown to him, one of the shop owners was suspicious of him all the while and decided to keep a close eye until he saw him sneaking from where he was pretending to be asleep and move towards the shops, used tools and broke open one of the shop’s door and gained entry thinking that everyone was asleep. That’s when the curious shop owner shouted for help from his colleagues and eventually caught the suspect while trying to escape.
“At the time of his arrest, he was in possession of 99 different set of keys, an iron rod cutter, plier, wheel spanner, 4 pieces of padlocks, 2 iron rod tools, a folding knife, an Itel mobile handset, touchlight, ATM card and 4 pieces of sacks meant for packing and concealing stolen property
“Further investigation revealed that the suspect has committed similar crime in five different locations in both Kano and Jigawa States. He has confessed to the crime and will be charged to court after thorough investigations
“Meanwhile, since his arrest, scores of shop owners were at the State Command to lodge complaints on similar shop breakages involving their shops with items worth millions stolen.”
