The Niger State Police Command has arrested 12 security staff of the Kainji Power Plant for alleged conspiracy, theft, and vandalisation of navigation lock metals valued at over ₦4.8 billion.
Police spokesperson, Wasiu Abiodun, disclosed this in a crime bulletin issued on Wednesday. He said the suspects were arrested following a complaint from Mainstream Energy Solutions Ltd, operators of the Kainji plant.
According to the statement, the suspects, led by security supervisor Shaibu Sufyan, conspired with scrap dealers in Mashegu Local Government Area to cut and cart away heavy metals from the plant between 2023 and 2025.
He added that the dealers allegedly moved with acetylene gas and cranes, mostly at night and on weekends, dismantling the metals into smaller sizes before loading them into trucks for resale to companies in Lagos, Kwara, and Osun States.
Police investigations have so far uncovered transactions worth over ₦12.5 million between Shaibu Sufyan and the scrap dealers, and ₦11.5 million involving another supervisor, Ibrahim Musa.
The police said efforts are ongoing to arrest the scrap dealers and other collaborators
In a separate case, two men, Ahmed Bura, 21, and Shafiu Ibrahim, 22, have been arrested for conspiring to stage a fake kidnapping in Minna and demanding ₦7 million ransom from their colleagues.
The suspects were tracked down to Makujeri after initially being reported missing at a car drifting show.
They remain in custody at the state CID, Minna, and will be charged in court alongside other suspected collaborators, the police said.
In another incident, Abdulnafiu Usman, 18, was arrested in Kwana-Mariga over the kidnapping and killing of 10-year-old Yaseer Mustapha.
The boy was abducted in July, and a ₦3.5 million ransom was demanded. His guardian, after paying part of the ransom, reported the matter to police in September when the boy was not released.
The suspects later confessed to killing and burying the child in an uncompleted building. His body was exhumed and handed over to the family for burial rites.
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In Kontagora, police patrol teams arrested three men for allegedly stealing and dismantling a Bajaj motorcycle.
The suspects, Jibril Musa, 24, Ahmed Tiamiyu, and Elijah Ochoba, 20, were nabbed with dismantled motorcycle parts in a sack after refusing to stop for police along the Kontagora-Yauri road.
They are currently in custody under investigation, according to the police.
