Police bust car snatching syndicate in Abuja, recover 75 laptops, 7 cars
Police operatives in the Federal Capital Territory, Tuesday bust a gang of criminals that specializes in breaking into parked vehicles and removing valuable items such as Laptops, Tablets and Bags.
The security operatives also recovered a total of 75 stolen laptops from the criminals.
Commissioner of Police, CP Sunday Babaji made this known at a briefing, where he noted that seven (7) stolen cars were recovered from another syndicate that specializes in removing cars from where they are parked with Master Keys which was also smashed.
Giving details of the operations, the CP said, “On 12th October 2021, Police operatives from the Central Area Police Station, Abuja arrested one Abubakar Shettima 28 years. The suspect confessed to being a specialist in opening peoples’ cars at parking lots and carting away with their valuables such as laptops, tablets and bags. A total number of 8 suspects were paraded and exhibits recovered included 2 locally made Pistols and one projector.
“Preliminary investigation reveals that the suspect Abubakar has other members of his syndicate who patronize him.
“According to him, he sells these products to Adekoye Anthony 28 years and Yusuf Isa 26 years who in turn sell some of the products as scrap and parts to members of the public.
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“Exhibits recovered from them are 61 HP Laptops, 4 Toshiba laptops, 5 dell laptops, 4 Lenovo laptops, one projector, 1 apple Mac book and parts of computers. All suspects confessed to the crime, and will be charged to court upon conclusion of the investigation”.
Regarding the armed robbery/car snatching syndicate, CP Babaji said, “On 6th October 2021 acting on credible intelligence, Police operatives from the Commands Anti-violence crime section of the CID arrested one Saliu James 25 years around Nyanya axis of the FCT.
“The suspect confessed to sending one Umar Hamza to buy him a pistol. The said Umar was arrested and is in police custody. Saliu confessed that the aim of getting the pistol is to enable him to carry out an operation where he will rob people of their vehicles at gunpoint.
“He further stated that he stole one Toyota Camry Pencil Light and sold it to one Samuel Emmanuel 41 years who specializes in receiving stolen vehicles and reselling them to innocent members of the public.
Speaking further, CP Babaji said the Federal Capital Territory Police Command has mapped out strategies to effectively perform their responsibilities against criminality especially in view of the ember month.
“In this regard, the command has massively deployed personnel to flashpoints in and around the FCT, as a follow to this, we have intensified vehicular and foot patrols, diligent stop and search operations, intelligence-based crime-fighting strategies and constant raids on black spots especially drug spots.
“Additionally, the command has continued to improve upon its community policing strategies by regularly engaging the community to provide actionable intelligence for proactive policing within the FCT. However, as the Yuletide season approaches, I want to appeal to residents to be more security conscious and provide timely information in case of emergency as our emergency lines are in circulation” He added.
