Akwa Ibom Police Command has arrested vandals of transformer in Sure Foundation Polytechnic, Ikot Akai in Ukanafun Local Government Area of the state.
Briefing the press at the command’s headquarters in Ikot Akpan-Abia, Uyo on Monday, January 13, the State Commissioner of Police, CP Baba Azare, said ‘‘we have arrested one Prosper Brownson Jim ‘m’ and one Uduak Sunday Benson ‘m’ for vandalization of a transformer belonging to Sure Foundation Polytechnic situated at Ikot Akai, Ukanafun Local Government.
He explained that the transformer oil was valued at about N800, 000.00 (eight hundred thousand naira) was drained, and armored cables valued at about N3.5m (Three million five hundred thousand naira) were stolen.
According to him,‘‘The command recovered transformer, armored cables, items suspected to be juju from the suspects. Case will soon be charge to court.’’
The Commissioner for Police recalled that ‘‘during my first official visit to His Excellency the Executive Governor of the state, he decried on the rising cases of vandalization of Public transformers and infrastructural facility across the state.
‘‘We have therefore stepped up our efforts to nip the crime and arrest the perpetrators of this act.’’
On the conspiracy/stealing ofIakwa Ibom Fire Service trucks, Azare said ‘‘Based on credible information from a Good Samaritan that 4 of the state fire service trucks were stolen and taken to Port Harcourt, River State by some officials of the service.
‘‘The Command moved to recover the said trucks and further investigation revealed that the fire trucks were leased out to some multinational companies at the rate of N140,000 per truck per day for initial period of 3 yrs. The link company share was N80, 000 while the fire service officials share stood at N60, 000 per truck per day, the deal was done in 2021 and was expected to terminate by 2024.
‘‘However, about two months to the expiration of the deal the command acted and recovered the vehicles. The four suspects arrested in the case will be charge to court soon while the trucks will be release to the Government to continue to serve the good people of the state while we continue to look for others at large.’’
Commenting on fraud/impersonation, he stated ‘‘Based on credible information at the Command’s disposal, from Itiam Group of villages, one Otobong Godwin Essien ‘m’ went to their palaces and introduced himself as a medical doctor.
‘‘He informed them about an ongoing health promo in their areas, offering them noxious substances to drink as a food supplement, which was later discovered to be a fake product. The suspect fraudulently collected the sum of three million five hundred and ten thousand naira (N3, 510,000.00) from the victims. He also promised to provide them with bags of rice, Kings Oil, and Maggi at the end of the promo but failed to do so.
Exhibits recovered include: One fake ID card, fifty (50) pieces of fake stickers, four (4) bottles of suspected noxious liquid substances and test tube.
Others were twenty (20) empty rubber bottles, Fifty (50) bags of 5kg rice, One (1) carton of Maggi and two (2) cartons of Kings oil.”
