A suspected 33-year-old ex-convict, Bishir Hayatu, has been arrested by police in Katsina State for allegedly stealing a vehicle assigned to the Office of the Secretary to the State Government.
The spokesman of the Command, Superintendent of Police Gambo Isah, while parading the suspect before reporters, said it is the third time Hayatu is being arrested, paraded, and charged to court for similar crimes.
Isah said the recovery of the vehicle was done within 40 minutes the case was reported to the police, as all scientific methods within the command’s arsenal were used.
The vehicle was said to have been reported missing on August 27, at about 2:pm, and allegedly recovered the same day at about 2:40 pm, barely an hour after the report.
According to Isah, the suspected 33-year-old Bishir Hayatu is a notorious thief, who breaks into unsuspecting public motor vehicles and stealing them.
Nemesis caught up with him when he, alongside members of his gang, went to Government Reserved Area, GRA, mosque and broke into and stole the Hilux van belonging to the office of the Secretary to the Katsina State Government with registration number KT 76 B01.
Due to the tracking device in the vehicle, it was traced and tracked to Dayi Village in Malumfashi Local Government Area of the state, on his way to Abuja, where the suspect was arrested.
The suspect, according to Isah, had in previous parades stated that, no matter how highly placed the individual is in the society, even the emir, he will steal from him and nothing will happen.
He was also arrested some few months ago for a similar crime, paraded, and charged to court.
The suspect, Bishir Hayatu, who did not deny the allegations, said he is presently on bail, a sequel to one of the crimes he committed, which landed him in the correctional facility in the state recently.
He denied stealing the car, saying it was a man from the Niger Republic, Sani Danmaradi, that gave him a call to come to Dayi Village, where the vehicle he was driving in, had some mechanical fault and contracted him as an expert to fix it.
Hayatu said it was during the process of the repairs, that the police arrested him. He hinted that the man paid him 20,000 Naira to fix the car.
Hayatu also admitted that it was the third time he was being arrested, paraded before newsmen, and charged to court, pledging that, if let off the hook, he will turn a new leaf.
But the police image maker said investigations are on to charge the suspect to court.