- Police uncover a long-running conspiracy involving security staff and scrap dealers who vandalised the Kainji Power Plant.
- The first case began on August 11, 2025, when Mainstream Energy Solutions Ltd reported missing infrastructure at the Kainji Power Plant.
The Niger State Police Command has arrested 14 suspects in connection with two significant cases: a ₦4.8 billion theft and vandalism at the Kainji Power Plant and a staged kidnap aimed at extorting ₦7 million.
Niger State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Wasiu Abiodun, confirmed the arrests in a statement on Wednesday, September 24, noting that investigations exposed criminal conspiracies spanning years.
The first case began on August 11, 2025, when Mainstream Energy Solutions Ltd reported missing infrastructure at the Kainji Power Plant. Police inspections revealed that navigation lock metals and beams worth billions of naira had been systematically vandalised and stolen.
Detectives arrested two plant supervisors, Shaibu Abu Sufyan (35) and Ibrahim Musa (31). After initial denials, Abu Sufyan confessed and implicated 10 security personnel under his command: Zayyanu Musa, Jibrin Abdullahi, Hassan Musa, Micah Adamu, Attahiru Umar, Abdulrahman Usman, Ismaila Ibrahim, Mubarak Husseini, Adamu Abubakar, and Abdullahi Abubakar (aka Zuma).
Further investigations linked the group to scrap dealers Musa Khalid, Abah Khalid, and Abdullahi of Nasarawa village, Mashegu LGA. Police said the dealers mobilised heavy equipment to dismantle the metals with acetylene gas, cut them into smaller sizes, and truck them out at night and on weekends.
“These criminal activities have been ongoing since 2023,” police disclosed. “We traced ₦12.5 million transactions between Abu Sufyan and one dealer, and ₦11.5 million linked to Ibrahim Musa. The stolen materials were sold to Lagos, Kwara, and Osun States companies.”
The command confirmed ongoing efforts to arrest the dealers and recover the stolen assets.