Yahaya Mohammed, a former police inspector, was found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison by a Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Minna, Niger State, for the theft and selling of an AK-47 magazine and ammunition to suspected armed bandits.
According to information acquired, the convicted officer in command of the armoury at the Niger State Police Command Headquarters plotted with another officer, Ndaman Gana, to conduct the crime.
The former police officer was charged with two counts of conspiracy, theft of an AK-47 magazine, and unlawful sale of an AK-47 magazine and ammunition.
Ahmed Sa’idu, DSP, police prosecutor, said the court that the offense violated Penal Code sections 97, (2), and 288 (l).
According to the First Information Report (FIR) filed by the police, the Department of State Service (DSS) of Niger State, which is affiliated to the Rafi LGA, provided information that “some unknown persons transported goods inside Ghana must go bag suspected to be arms to Kagara Motor Park.”
Ex-Inspector Yahaya Mohammed, previously of the Department of Operations and now the Second in Command at the State Amoury in Minna, was apprehended by the police.
Niger State Police Command property, including 22 magazines and 61 rounds of live ammunition of various calibers, were stolen by you, a former police inspector, and Ndaman Gana, the officer in command of the state armoury linked to the department of operations OPS in Minna, during a police inquiry.
Both of you sold the magazine to an ex-Corporal Sani Mohammed, previously of MOPOL 12 Minna, for N1,000, and each round of ammo went for N650.
So, when Hajiya Fati Umar Hassan, the presiding Chief Magistrate, read Mohammed the charge, he admitted guilt.
The prosecutor then asked the court to issue a speedy conviction based on Section 190 of the Niger State Administration of Criminal Justice Law because the defendant had been diagnosed with cough hemophiliacs.
In her decision, Chief Magistrate Hajiya Fati Umar Hassan expressed her dismay at the defendant’s lack of respect for the public trust in his capacity as a police officer charged with safeguarding citizens’ lives and property.
She then ruled that the terminated police officer should be transferred to Chanchaga Leprosium Colony to fulfill his jail term if he could not pay the fine.
