Suspected car thieves arrested in Benue

Two men suspected to have snatched a Honda Element car from its owner at gunpoint in Makurdi are now helping the police with information, Daily Trust reports. The police spokesman for the Benue State command, ASP Moses Joel Yamu, who paraded the suspects in Makurdi, said the men were apprehended at Ikpayongo in Gwer Local […]

Two men suspected to have snatched a Honda Element car from its owner at gunpoint in Makurdi are now helping the police with information, Daily Trust reports.

The police spokesman for the Benue State command, ASP Moses Joel Yamu, who paraded the suspects in Makurdi, said the men were apprehended at Ikpayongo in Gwer Local Government Area few hours after the vehicle was snatched.

Yamu said the suspects had cornered the driver of the car while he was about to enter his compound last Saturday and collected the key at gunpoint.

The driver of the stolen car, Tahav Asen, a law school undergraduate, said the vehicle belonged to his elder brother who is a legal practitioner and that he had returned from Wurukum Motor Park in Makurdi at 12 midnight where he went to pick up a guest who had just arrived from Jos.

“As I moved to enter the gate after it was opened by my neighbour, two strange men accosted me, they pointed guns at me, also hit the butt of the gun on my nose and snatched the car from me. They locked me up in my house and went away with the car,” he said.

Asen added that the vehicle was recovered the same night following the prompt action by the policemen on patrol.

But the suspects, Adaba Christopher and Terzurumun Verashe, denied any knowledge of the allegation against them.

Christopher said he is a farmer and politician, adding that he hired Verashe, a private taxi operator to take him to Alaide, about an hour drive from Makurdi to enable him attend a friend’s birthday party.

“It was between 2:00am and 3:00am that we were arrested by police at Ikpayongo on our way to Alaide for a friend’s birthday party. I usually hire Verashe who is operating a private car services to take me to wherever I wanted to go so I called him that Saturday midnight and we took off, only to be apprehended along the way,” he said.

When asked why he decided to make a birthday trip at that time of the night, Christopher, a father of six children with one wife, said it was his way of attending parties.

On his part, Verashe, who collaborated Christopher’s view swore that he knew nothing about the stolen car except that he was awoken from sleep that fateful night by his longstanding client to convey him to Alaide in Gwer local government area and that the police nabbed them along the way.

Meanwhile, the police said the duo had been arrested before in similar manner with stolen goats which they claimed to be theirs and being conveyed to Gboko area of the state.

Spokesman of the police, Yamu, said the suspects would be charged to court on completion of investigation into the matter.