Karu residents lament high burglary, theft rates
Residents of Karu village and Abattoir in Karu, a district on the north-eastern fringes of Abuja, the federal capital, have decried the high incidents of burglary and theft in the area. Some of the residents who spoke to our reporter narrated many cases of burglary on shops and houses. Buhari Mohammed Yazid, who is a […]
Residents of Karu village and Abattoir in Karu, a district on the north-eastern fringes of Abuja, the federal capital, have decried the high incidents of burglary and theft in the area.
Some of the residents who spoke to our reporter narrated many cases of burglary on shops and houses.
Buhari Mohammed Yazid, who is a victim of the burglaries, said about two weeks ago, some of the perpetrators sneaked into his room and stole mobile phones while he and his friends were sleeping at night.
“In that very incident, the thieves stole 15 mobile phones belonging to me and six of my friends at night,” he said.
Another resident, Bashir Ahmed, lamented that the perpetrators of such crimes were not residents of the area. He said that thieves sneaked in from neighbouring communities to steal their valuables.
“People come to stay in this community and nobody verifies their identity. These are the kind of people that commit such crimes. We suspect the youths hibernating around Karu, Abattoir, they are those that we suspect of committing such crimes,” he added.
According to him, those behind such crimes do not even have houses in the area; they can disappear without a trace after committing such crimes.
He also said that apart from stealing mobile phones, the hoodlums burgle shops and cart away goods. They also steal generators, motorcycles, clothes, shoes and other valuables.
Another resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, lamented that whenever they arrested the suspects and hand them over to the police, the police released them without prosecution. This, according to them, has forced them to take the laws into their hands on several occasions.
“Last month, we caught a thief at Anguwan Hausawa who had been stealing people’s valuables at night. We caught him with a knife. We decided to seize the stolen properties and beat him because even if we take him to the police, he would not be prosecuted,” he claimed.
The Hakimi of Karu Yamma, Alhaji Bawa Dawogbeyi, said they are aware of the situation.
“Even though the people of the community do not usually report such cases, we are aware of such complaints but the traditional institution does not have jurisdiction to treat such criminal cases,” he said.
When contacted, the FCT police command spokesman, DSP Anjuguri Manzah, said the command paraded 47 suspects last Thursday, among them six suspects arrested from the Karu-Jikwoyi axis.
He said the suspects were arrested for allegedly terrorising residents in the locality, adding that two locally made pistols were recovered from them and that they have been handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department of the FCT police command.