Mysterious fire outbreak: Police arrest 2 teenagers

From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

The police in Bauchi State seem to have made a headway in their investigation into the recent mysterious fire outbreak in Soro in Ganjuwa Local Government Area of the state.

Between October 1 and now, over 200 houses had been gutted by the mysterious fire in the town in which property worth millions of Naira were destroyed, though no life was lost to the outbreak. People of the town had attributed the sudden and mysterious fire to evil spirits.

However the state’s Police spokesman, Haruna Mohammed, informed that detectives attached to Soro Division of the Command arrested two suspects in connection with the recent fire incidents in the town.

According to a statement, made available to journalists in Bauchi, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), the suspects arrested were 18-year-old Suleiman Hassan and Usama Mu’azu, a 10-year-old, both residents of the town.

He informed that the suspects confessed to being the brains behind series of fire incidents in the town.

DSP Mohammed added that the Police were investigating the matter with a view to determining the motive behind the suspects’ action.

In a related development, there was a fire outbreak in doctors’ quarters at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH) in Bauchi, on Tuesday night.

The fire incident, which occurred at about 10p.m., at a block occupied by one Dr Gagare Hassan, reportedly started from a generator behind the building.

The PPRO informed that the scene of the incident was visited by a police patrol team attached to GRA Division, while men of the Bauchi state Fire Service and PHCN officials were contacted and they responded in bringing the fire under control and prevented it from spreading.

No life was however lost in the fire incident, though the value of property destroyed was yet to be ascertained as of the time of filing this report.

In another development, the PPRO informed that police detectives from the State Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) on Tuesday, at about 2:30pm arrested a 28-year-old Aliyu Mohammed of Jabi area of Abuja with a dark ash Honda Accord car with registration number AV 377 DKA and chassis number JHMCB36400C027625.

According to the Police spokesman, the suspect confessed to have stolen the car from Area 11, Garki, Abuja, where the owner parked at his residence.

DSP Mohammed stated that further investigation led to the arrest of his accomplice in Bauchi, one Nasiru Sani, of Bakin Kura Street, who is also a ‘participi criminis’.