A tricycle belonging to a notorious phone-snatching syndicate in Kofar Kabuga in Gwale Local Government Area of Kano State on Wednesday, May 24 was set ablaze by an irate mob on Wednesday, May 24.
Phone snatching has become rampant in Kano metropolis since the 2023 elections, with many people injured and others killed.
It was earlier reported that two young men were stabbed to death by phone snatchers in the state.
Witnesses who spoke to Daily Trust said that members of the syndicate who snatched phones, started their operation from around the Emir’s palace to the popular Nasarawa Hospital in Nasarawa LGA, and that after, youths mobilised to confront them and they escaped to the Kofar Kabuga area where they abandoned the tricycle.
“They came here on their tricycle and started snatching peoples’ phones. They normally do this on a daily basis. That was why people decided to take action against them. They attacked them in their large numbers that was why they ran and their tricycle was set ablaze,” a witness said.
“People are tired of this menace. When they are arrested they normally get released. So, that was why people started taking action. I witnessed a similar incident on State Road, where a tricycle was set ablaze. But before they burnt it, they recovered over 30 mobile phones inside. The most annoying part of it is that they will sell them at cheaper prices just to buy drugs”.
A source said, “They either enter tricycles as passengers to snatch phones or use their tricycles to carry people and along the way snatch their phones.”
Following the Wednesday incident, the state’s Commissioner of Police (CP), Muhammed Usaini Gumel, cautioned the public against taking the law into their hands, calling on them to complement police’ efforts to end the menace and ensure the culprits were arrested.
