The police have arrested 27 suspects over Saturday’s mob attack
on residents of Badarawa area of the state capital.
Police spokesperson in the state,
Mukhtar Aliyu, on Monday disclosed the arrest of the hoodlums, popularly called
“Yan shara” or “Sweepers,” who are notorious in the city for randomly visiting
violence on people often without provocation.
A mob made up of scores of the
hoodlums brandishing cudgels and sundry weapons had attacked traders and
commuters at the popular Katuru Road in Badarawa, stabbing and seizing mobile
phone handsets and money from their victims.
A PREMIUM TIMES reporter, who was
caught in the melee, escaped being lynched by the rampaging youth.
Mr. Aliyu said 11 suspects were
arrested immediately after the incident on Saturday and another set of 16 on
Sunday.
“Upon interrogation, the 11
suspected ‘Yan shara’ led to the arrest of additional 16 yesterday (Sunday).We
have a total of 27 suspects in our custody and they are helping with
investigation,” the police spokesperson said.
He said seven victims, including
four females, were rescued from the hoodlums, while items such as mobile phone
hand sets, goods stolen from passers-by and traders, and dangerous weapons used
in the attack were also recovered.
“We were able to recover items
such as handsets and goods stolen from passers-by and road side traders. We
also recovered dangerous weapons such as machetes, sticks and ‘gariyo,’ a
locally made weapon.
“Investigation is still in
progress. Effort is also on to arrest other suspects at large,” Mr. Aliyu
added.
Musa Dauda, a trader and one of the victims of the attack, said
the mob mostly youth, were coming from the direction of Murtala square, where
the state government organised the Centenary Durbar to celebrate 100 years of
the creation of Kaduna city.
“They robbed me and many shops on
Katuru Road of our goods, including soft drinks and satchet water. They
continued to stab and hit anybody on their path and fled when the police
arrived after a distress call, and arrested some of them,” he said.
Another victim told PREMIUM TIMES:
”They collected all I had on me, my phones, money. They were many and they
robbed anyone they met on the street. Thank Allah I was not killed but about
four people were stabbed right before me.”
PREMIUM TIMES
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