Jungle justice over theft of cop’s handset

Weekly Trust learnt that the late Abdullahi had allegedly borrowed a mobile phone from a friend (one of the policemen) with the intention of making calls but disappeared.The policeman (name withheld) not knowing the whereabouts of Abdullahi, gave orders that he should be arrested wherever he was seen, a witness said. However, luck ran out […]

Weekly Trust learnt that the late Abdullahi had allegedly borrowed a mobile phone from a friend (one of the policemen) with the intention of making calls but disappeared.The policeman (name withheld) not knowing the whereabouts of Abdullahi, gave orders that he should be arrested wherever he was seen, a witness said.

However, luck ran out of Abdullahi when, a few days later, he went to sell the phone to a buyer who coincidentally, is a friend to the policeman. On recognizing the phone, the buyer promptly called his friend, asking him to come and arrest Abdullahi.

The witness, who doesn’t want to be named, said when Abdullahi realised that the buyer recognised the phone and was calling the owner; he took off but was pursued by two policemen and some people.

It was learnt that when they eventually caught him, they poured petrol on and set him ablaze, leaving him with various degrees of injuries.The witness said Abdullahi was then rushed to the Usmanu Danfodio Teaching Hospital to treatment, but died two days after due to what he described the injuries he sustained.

Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Mohammed Umar Dakingari confirmed the story but denied that the two policemen had hands in the killing of Abdullahi.

According to him, the only time  the police officer got involved was when they accosted Abdullahi but  realising that they were about to catch him, he poured petrol on his head and ignited  fire.

He said it was at that point, a soldier (name with held) who was passing by removed his camera mobile phone and got shots of  the already burnt Abdullahi before he was rushed  to the hospital.

The deceased’s brother, Bala Abdullahi confirmed the incident adding that late Abdullahi was known to have had relationship with people of the area. He said the family waiting for their uncle, who was not in town, before taking any action.