Three young men, including son of a professor, have been arrested for allegedly stealing a hiilux engine worth N 2 million inside the University of Calabar (UniCal) staff quarters.
The Professor’s son, simply identified as Jerry, was picked up by UniCal internal security operatives, together with two others, whose names were given as David and Paul.
Speaking on the arrest, the Chief Security Officer of the University, Cpt Augustine Bisong (rtd), said the said engine was bought to replace a bad one in the vehicle of a principal officer of the University before it was stolen from the Mechanic workshop inside the staff Quarters.
The CSO explained that the suspects stole and sold the engine, adding that his unit had also identified the buyer and other accomplices who took the engine out from the University.
“The buyer of the ‘tokunbo’ toyota hilux engine at Bogobri and the vehicle/driver’s used in moving the engine out from the University have been identified.
“So far, we have arrested three persons. We are also on the lookout for other suspects involved in the engine theft and other related damages to critical infrastructure of the University.
“The ones arrested have been terrorizing members of the University community, stealing car batteries, armoured cables and vandalizing street light to get their batteries.
“We have been on surveillance for two weeks after the Hilux engine was stolen, and we have been on their trail before they were arrested. They have also named their receiver, a businessman at popular Bogobiri community of Hausa/ Fulani in Calabar.
“We will hand them over to security agency for prosecution, but we want to seize this opportunity to warn all those who are in the University community, who feel they can commit crime and go scott free, that our vigilant eyes are watching. We shall smoke them all out,” he said.
Confessing to the crime, the prime suspects, David, who hails from Benue, said they sold the engine at Bogobiri for N30,000, claiming that he and his accomplices did not know that the engine was still in perfect working condition.
“We took the engine to Bogobiri, we sold it for 30,000 because we thought it was scrap metal. I am sorry because I will never get involved in such again,” he pleaded.