The Katsina State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, says it has arrested 2 minors aged 10 and 16, and a 19-year-old, suspected to be their ring leader, who allegedly specialize in ransacking women’s bags during social gatherings
In a statement released by the spokesman of the command, Mohammed Abdara, the gang uses its youngest member to go into houses where weddings or other ceremonies are taking place, to steal valuables from women’s bags.
Abdara also said the gang makes use of a tricycle as their operational vehicle to comb the town for homes to attack, with the 19-year-old as the pilot of the tricycle.
He further said ” the 10-year-old boy would wear clean clothes and use wireless earphones to enter any place where an event is taking place, especially weddings or naming ceremonies.
According to Abdara, when he succeeds in getting anything useful, he hands it to his 16-year-old accomplice, who rushes to where the tricycle is parked.
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Luck ran out on them when the little boy was caught in the act at a wedding ceremony, leading to the arrest of the other two and while trying to escape, the tyre of their tricycle went flat.
The NSCDC spokesman said that in the course of the investigation, the suspects allegedly revealed the identity of a similar gang, operating in Katsina in the same mode.
Abdara said in the case of the ten year old, the command has informed his parents of the development but they are yet to show up, saying at the end of the investigation, the boy will be taken for counselling.
He called on parents to always watch the movements of their children and the type of company they keep to prevent them from mingling with criminals
Editor Oloyede Oworu
