Suspected garage touts last Thursday night snatched an AK-47 assault rifle from a police corporal attached to the Delta State Police Command at the notorious Abraka Hausa market, along the Onitsha high way in Asaba.
DAILY POST reliably gathered from a source within the market that the police corporal, simply identified as Corporal Monday, was a regular caller at the makeshift shanty brothels inside the market.
The source, who gave his name as Haliru, said that the cop had entered the ‘red light zone’ to catch fun, after abandoning his colleagues who were on patrol in the area when he lost his service rifle.
“The policeman left his patrol team; we saw him entering one of the small rooms to see one girl, but after some time, we heard him shouting that his rifle has been stolen.
“Initially, we thought he was just making trouble, but later, we saw many policemen in the area, who started arresting everybody,” Haliru said.
The source said that following the raid, traders in the market, many of whom slept in the stalls and other visitors in the area scampered for safety.
He said many traders and some touts in the garage were arrested and hounded into police vehicle and driven away that night, adding that many people sustained injuries during the raid.
Haliru said: “They parked many of our traders, and some people that used to come and relax with the girls here in the night. My cousin, Sule, a shoe cobbler, who lives with me was arrested that night.”
A source at the State Police Headquarters confirmed the incident to DAILY POST on Tuesday night in Asaba, revealing that the cop in question had since been taken into custody, awaiting prosecution.
The source, who pleaded anonymity, said that the corporal was on patrol in the area, before he suddenly went away from the rest of his colleagues only to later raise alarm that his rifle had been snatched.
“What happened in Abraka market is a big carelessness on the part of the policeman. They were on patrol, but he suddenly left his team to God knows where.
“If he had been with his colleagues, nobody would have snatched his rifle, no matter how powerful the attacker may be. The cop displayed stupidity, and now he is going to face the music,” he said.
The police source further disclosed that the police authority in the state would not rest until the rifle is recovered.
He said: “In the police, we don’t play with the rifle, because it is a symbol of our authority and loosing it carelessly is a crime that does not go unpunished. I see police raiding the area until the rifle is produced.”
Meanwhile, many hausa traders and motor park touts had since deserted the area for fear of being arrested, just as many of the commercial sex workers living in the shanty stalls had ran away for fear of police attack.
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