The Adamawa state police command have arrested one Abdulrahman Ishaq for allegedly stealing a commercial tricycle, commonly known as keke napep.
Spokesman of the Command, SP Suleiman Nguroje said the suspect, a resident of Geriyo in Yola North LGA, took the tricycle from the premises of a Mosque at Gate 4, one of the entry gates to the Jimeta Modern Market, Yola.
He said the 22-year-old removed the keke napep from where the owner parked it and joined other worshipers observing prayers at the Mosque.
“The suspect was arrested within Jimeta and investigation has revealed that he took the tricycle from around the Gate 4 Mosque when worshipers were observing their prayers,” Nguroje said.
The reported cases of keke napep theft around the Jimeta Modern Market appears to be on the rise as a similar incident happened last month when a 25-year-old man, Suleiman Auwal, was caught using a stolen tricycle to run a transport business in Yola.
Auwal was accused of stealing the tricycle at the main shopping complex in Jimeta, where it was put up for sale. The suspect, who was without a job, then rode it to Jambutua community not more than four or five kilometres away and started using it to carry passengers.
Seller of the tricycle had reported the matter to the Adamawa state police, and when they spotted the suspected thief riding the tricycle, he was apprehended.
SP Suleiman Nguroje said Auwal, who resides in a part of Jambutu called Aso Rock, confessed that he made away with the tricycle, now known to belong to one Abubakar Usman, at the Juma’at Mosque in the Jimeta Ultra Modern Market.
The police established that Auwal, who joined other people to offer the Jumat prayers at the Mosque, hurriedly completed his prayer and rushed to where tricycles were packed and stole one.
He said that in the few days that he had possession of the vehicle, he was paying N100 daily to a local security man to guard the tricycle from being stolen. Nguroje has assured that Auwal is in police custody, and that the state Commissioner of Police, Afolabi Babatola, had ordered that the suspect be thoroughly investigated and prosecuted.
