By Nahum Sule 

A 32years old suspected serial criminal defrauding Point Of Sale (POS) operators around ATC (Kasuwan bera) and Nasarawo quarters of Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, was, on Saturday, arrested by men of the Taraba State Police Command.


In a press briefing at the Police Command in Jalingo, the suspect was identified as one Yahaya Ahmed, a resident of Federal Medical Center Quarters, Sintalli Ward in Jalingo Local Government Area of Taraba State.

Parading the suspect before journalists, the Commissioner of Police, CP Abimbola A. Sokoya, narrated that the information received before the suspect was arrested was recorded following a written petition sent to the Taraba State Police Command by one Mr Wilfred Igohia Ikyer ‘M’ of New Era Quarters Jalingo, who alleged to that his POS operator was defrauded of a total sum of N100,000 One Hundred Thousand Naira) by an unknown person.

The Commissioner who was represented by the Police Public Relations Officer of the Command, SP Abdullahi Usman, said during the week under review, they received the written petition. One Miss Godiya Jekine Jatau asserts that “the suspect came with Unity Bank’s debit ATM card with serial number 5061170321505014481 and defrauded the operator to the total amount N100,000".

According to the Police PRO, “On receipt of the petition, the men of the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) swung into action and succeeded in arresting Yahaya Ahmed who allegedly specialized in defrauding POS Operators within the Taraba metro.


The Commissioner further stated that in the course of investigation, the suspect confessed the offence alleged against him, and many ATM debits card of different Banks were found in his possession.

He said the Suspect had revealed to the police that he had been into this act for the past 3 months, during which he succeeded in defrauding five (5) POS Operators in Jalingo town of the total sum of Six Hundred Thousand Naira (N600,000).

The commissioner appealed to all peace-loving citizens of the state to continue to partner with the command by taking keen interest on issues of their personal security and neighborhood safety through the provision of useful and actionable information on the activities of any suspicious individual or groups. He assured that all information would be treated with utmost confidentiality.

On his part, the suspect, Yahaya Ahmed, had confessed the offence alleged against him. He however, said he had defrauded the operators of a total sum of N450,000 only not Six Hundred Thousand as alleged by the police.

Meanwhile, the commissioner said the suspect, Yahaya Ahmed, would remain in the police custody as he was assisting the police with useful information that would help to apprehend his accomplices who are still at large, after which they would be charged to court. NNL.