Officers of the Rapid Response Squad attached to the Delta State police command, last Saturday, apprehended one Bassey Udoh, a suspected generator thief, in possession of a gun at a nightclub in Asaba.

Spokesperson for the command, Bright Edafe, in a video shared on X on Saturday, said the 39-year-old was suspiciously lurking around the nightclub when the operatives on patrol intercepted and searched him before finding the weapon.

Mr Edafe said, “On Saturday, at about 5:00 a.m., while RRS operatives of the Command were performing their feasibility patrol around DBS road, just by Don and Masters, they saw this young man carrying a bag. They say a clear conscience fears no accusation but once you see the police and your conscience is not clear, it becomes obvious and the small fear will be seen. That’s how this man was sighted in a suspicious manner, was intercepted and searched. Lo and behold, the bag he was carrying, when it was searched, this gun was found in his bag. This is the magazine and these are the ammunition that were recovered from him.”

The suspect, during interrogation, said, “I was holding it, I did not use it to rob, it’s just to flex at the club that night. It’s somebody who gave me the gun, the person used to pick from dustbins (iron condemn) near airport. I didn’t buy it from him, he said I should look into the gun because it’s stiff, strong and that nothing in the gun is working.”

Mr Edafe also stated that it was discovered during interrogation that the suspect scales fences of people’s houses while they are sleeping before stealing their generators, adding that he either takes the stolen item out through the gate or over the fence.

The suspect, who claimed to be from Akwa-Ibom State and had been resident in Delta for three years, confessed he started generator theft “two months ago” and has so far stolen from nine houses, adding that he usually operates between 4:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.

Mr Edafe, who stated that the police have already identified the person the suspect sells the generators to, asked him how much he sells the stolen generators, to which he responded, “Some buy it N35,000, some buy it N40,000.”

Reiterating the right of the police to randomly search people, their bags, or pockets—but not their houses or phones without a search warrant—Mr Edafe said that the command’s strategy under the leadership of Commissioner of Police Olufemi Abaniwonda is proactive policing rather than reactive.