Those who knew him said he exhibited rare ingenuity and unmistakable
mien of an intelligent young man but little did his schoolmates know
that the 29-year-old undergraduate in the department
of Business Education also doubled as a car thief having reportedly
stolen six cars until recently when the bubble finally burst.
“I have stolen six cars before this recent one. I was trying to open the
Honda Civic car when some people saw me but the police arrested me
before I could escape,”
Asked why he ventured into car theft as an undergraduate, Mari said greed and selfish desire pushed him into the criminal act.
“It was selfishness and greed. Each time I stole a car and sold it, I got a lot of money and I felt like stealing
another car again. It is greed and I regret my action. I promise I wont
do it again when I get off this case,” he said in a sober tone, asking
his family for forgiveness.
He said he often used a special key he called master key to open cars
wherever they are packed, adding that his buyers are mostly in
Gamboru-Ngala area in the Nigeria-Cameroon border.
“Yes, I know the buyers, they buy the cars and take them off the border in Gamboru area,”
journalists the suspect was arrested by a team of police Special
Anti-Robbery Squad on patrol along Bama road in Maiduguri while
attempting to steal a green Honda Civic car. He said his arrest was
possible following a tip off by those who witnessed the attempt to steal
the car.
“On interrogation, the suspect confessed to have previously stolen six assorted motor vehicles
within Maiduguri metropolis and disposed off the same at different
locations within the state,We are not able to locate the buyers now
because of the terrain, I mean the security challenge
in the area,”“Some people in the society have been mounting pressure”
on the police to release the suspect but he maintained that he would be
charged to court as soon as the police have completed their
investigation