CITY NEWS 3 arrested over wine theft in Gwarinpa

...2 in custody over illegal firearm at Kuje

Three men have been arrested by the police over theft of 13 bottles of imported wines from a store in Gwarinpa.

City News learnt that the police traced two of the suspects with the phone numbers they left with the sales boy after the theft.

Two of the suspects went into the shop pretending to be customers and stole the bottles of wine.

A police source said one of them took the sales boy to the warehouse pretending to be window shopping for a particular brand while the other, left behind at the store, removed 13 bottles of wine from the cartons into his bag.

The 13 bottles of wine were valued at about N650,000.

The police source said the suspects had exchanged contact details with the sales boy promising to come back later to buy the wines he saw at the warehouse.

“After they left, the sales boy discovered that 13 bottles were removed from the cartons inside the shop and he informed his boss who reported the case at the Gwarinpa Police Station,” the source said.

The Gwarinpa Divisional Police Officer, CSP Nuruddeen Sabo, said the suspects were tracked with the telephone numbers to a building in Utako where they were arrested.

He said the two suspects confessed to the crime during investigation, but it was discovered that they had already sold the stolen items to one Chika in Wuse 2.

He said the man and the two boys were in police custody while all the items were recovered from his shop.

“The man gave them N48,000 promising to pay them the balance after he sold the items. They will be prosecuted after we complete our investigation,” he said. The FCT police have arrested two suspects over unlawful possession of firearm at Unguwar Pasali in Kuje Area Council.

A statement by the command spokesman, DSP Anjuguri Manzah, gave the names of the suspects as Salisu Awwalu and Suleiman Salisu, whom he said reside at Pasali.

He said the suspects were arrested on Tuesday morning at about 3:15a.m. by police detectives from Kuje police division.

He said a locally made pistol and one cutlass were recovered from them, saying the commissioner of police, Musa Kimo, has ordered that the suspects and exhibits should be transferred to the Command Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for discreet investigation.

The statement urged residents to continue to partner with the police by providing information about suspicious persons and criminal activities around them.

According to the statement, the suspects will be charged to court on conclusion of investigation.