Some men where caught stealing electricity transmission cables in the capital of Abia State, Umuahia. They were stripped and locked in the transformer cage.

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The cable thieves who were captured by the local vigilant group of Umuahia award three Sunday night, were handed over to the men of the Umuahia central police Monday morning.

A resident of the area who craved anonymity told our correspondent that the hoodlums were captured when they came to snatch a tricycle belonging to one physically challenged operator identified only as Nwaba in the area after he raised the alarm.

He said, “The transformer in this Street was vandalized over a month ago, and since then we have been in a total blackout.

“When we reported the matter to the Enugu Electric Distribution Company office in Umuahia, they promised to replace the vandalized cables, but they had yet to do that, so the residents of ward three held a meeting where we agreed to form a vigilant group and also levy each building N1500 to fix the light problems here.

” But last night when we hard the alarm of one physically challenged tricycle operator, we(the vigilant group) moved in and captured the robbers, while we were questioning them, the cable thieves confessed to be responsible for stealing the cable of the transformer and also named another member of their gang and a suspected buyer of the stolen cables.

“We traced the other suspects to houses in town and got them too, we have handed all of them over to the police this morning”.

When contacted the Abia State Police Public Relations Officer ASP Ogbonaya Nta confirmed the incident.

He said the police would make the identity of the suspects public after further investigation.