More facts emerged over the Sunday looting of a private warehouse in the Karmo community of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The media were awash with the report of hoodlums in their numbers attacked a government warehouse in Gwagwa town, as well a private one, owned by a trader in neighbouring Karmo town, all located within Abuja Municipal Area Council, in the FCT.
The Gwagwa warehouse, which was attacked around 7 am, and lasted till 9 am, was owned by the Agricultural and Rural Development Secretariat, of the Federal Capital Territory Administration FCTA.
Branded bags of maize with government marks were stolen from the facility by the vandals, with others taking other valuables attached to the building like roofing sheets, windows, and gate.
Thereafter, the rampaging youth proceeded to neighbouring Karmo town, and looted a private warehouse, stocked by a trader.
The owner of the attacked Karmo warehouse, Murtala Ibrahim Gusau, stated that the hoodlums arrived at his store located at Sabuwar-Unguwa area in the community around 9 am and forced their way in. He noted that some of the hoodlums were from the community while others have arrived on motorcycles from Gwagwa town.
On getting the information about the incident, “I ran to the Karmo Police Division but only to learn that the police there had left for Gwagwa where the first incident took place. Same information I got at the vigilante office around the market. So, I went back to the market and invited my fellow traders. On arrival, we discovered that the youth had already started looting the food items, and all efforts to stop them were not successful, as they used the arms in their possession, like sticks and machetes to attack us.
“I sustained some injuries from the attack,” Gusau added. Given the breakdown about the looted items, the trader disclosed that about 711 bags of rice were stolen along with 652 bags of beans, as well as 1,602 bags of sugar.
He, however, added that he was able to recover some of the stolen food items through the efforts of Karmo policemen, who arrived around an hour later in company of other policemen from the Life Camp division, and the FCT Police Command.
“The police were able to recover about 363 bags of rice, 475 bags of beans, and also 1,255 bags of sugar. We recovered them from some household and also the vandal’s hideout,” he disclosed.
He said the food items supplied recently were meant for Ramadan packages, where some individuals used to supply him and donated the same to the needy, especially the orphans and widows. He said he had since relocated the recovered items to somewhere within the Life Camp area in the FCT on the same day.
