Police corporal steals 15 AK-47 guns from armoury •Linked with attacks on Kaduna, Zamfara villages •Exposed by local ‘thief catcher’

POLICE authorities in Zamfara State are currently battling to solve the riddle of how a police corporal has been freely penetrating the armoury and carting away choice ammunition at will.
The said corporal, who was said to have recently stolen 15 brand new AK-47 guns from the Zamfara  State police armoury has been linked to recent deadly attacks on Dogon Dawa village in Kaduna, which left 20 persons, including the village head dead in October, as well as the attack on Dansadau village in Zamfara last week.
Sources close to the security forces in the states of Kaduna, Kebbi and Zamfara told the Nigerian Tribune that the police corporal was exposed by a local thief catcher who was engaged by some security agencies to unravel the secret behind the dangerous attacks witnessed in some villages of North-West states recently.
 Sources said that the local thief catcher was able to retrieve the guns at a particular market leading to investigations within the rank of the police.
The Nigerian Tribune further gathered that the investigations have resulted in the arrest of the police chief in charge of armoury in the state.
According to sources, the tendency was to attribute most deadly attacks to the militant Islamic sect, Boko Haram, but it has since emerged that the sect usually claims responsibility for its attacks and that those of Zamfara and Kaduna were not perpetrated by the sect.
It was gathered that the bid to unravel the mystery surrounding the attacks and some other robbery attacks in recent times around Birnin Gwari in Kaduna and Maru in Zamfara State led to the discovery of the activities of the said corporal.
The security operatives, backed by the Zamfara State government, were said to have engaged the services of one Ali Kwarai, a local thief catcher, who unraveled the mystery.
A source in the know described the development thus: “The police corporal has been the one organising arms and ammunition for a notorious gang through police armouries. One of the evidence was unraveled with the arrest of the police armourer of Zamfara State recently. He is an Inspector by rank.
“The Zamfara government and some security outfits decided to engage the service of Mallam Ali Kwarai, a known thief catcher who unraveled the mystery.
“He was able to utilise the intelligence reports and discovered some 15 AK-47 riffles recently supplied to the Zamfara command. He got the guns intact with the serial numbers conforming with those stolen from police armoury.  The whole evidence pointed to the direction of the notorious corporal.”
The Corporal is said to be on the run.