Man, 44, caught with stolen goat in Lokoja
A 44-year-old man, Abdulraman Aliyu, has been arrested for allegedly stealing a goat in Karaworo, a suburb of Lokoja, the capital of Kogi State. Youths in the Lokoja community, acting on a tip-off, caught the suspect on Tuesday afternoon, shortly after he had succeeded in killing the goat. The suspect, alleged to be a serial […]
A 44-year-old man, Abdulraman Aliyu, has been arrested for allegedly stealing a goat in Karaworo, a suburb of Lokoja, the capital of Kogi State.
Youths in the Lokoja community, acting on a tip-off, caught the suspect on Tuesday afternoon, shortly after he had succeeded in killing the goat.
The suspect, alleged to be a serial livestock thief in the community, was apprehended in the act.
“He specializes in stealing domestic animals and selling them at cheaper rates to his customers, who are mostly butchers in the town,” said a local resident.
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He had been on the community’s watch list for months as his activities became public knowledge.
“The suspect was about to load the dismembered goat into a sack bag when one of the youths in the community saw him and raised the alarm, which led to his arrest by the mob,” said Abubakar Adamu, a resident of Karaworo.
Locals said that in the past few weeks, residents of the area had been raising alarms over missing domestic animals, including chickens and goats.
Another resident, Mallam Nasir Hamza, added that the suspect always operates at midnight and sells his stolen animals at a throwaway price to his customers, who then resell them to butchers at various markets in the city.
In a confession, Aliyu said, “I usually sneak out in the midnight to the streets in search of large flocks of domestic animals, particularly goats and rams. I will enter their gathering and carry out my operations easily, while they are sleeping.”
The suspect has been handed over to security agents for further investigation.
But the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP William Aya, did not respond to a message from our reporter on the arrest as at the time of filing this report.