‘Thieves’ break into BUK female hostel, steal 17 phones

At least 17 mobile phones were confirmed stolen when thieves ransacked one of the female hostels of Bayero University, Kano (BUK).

City News gathered that the incident happened around 2am on Monday at the Ramat Annex female hostel in the New Campus of the institution and has caused apprehension among the female students.

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One of the affected students, who asked not to be named, said they discovered that their phones had been stolen when some of them woke up around 3am for night reading.

She said, the hostel which was a former clinic, had dilapidated burglary proofs and broken glasses, noting that the situation had always been of concern to them.

She said they locked their door and went to bed that day but later found the door open.

She further said immediately they discovered that they had been robbed they alerted the security officials stationed around the hostel but were told to go to the security office when day broke to lay official complaint.

Another victim, who also asked not to be named, said they were shocked to find out that no effort was made on the part of the security to arrest the thieves immediately the matter was reported, adding that instead the school security had been blaming the victims by insisting that it was an insider job despite evidence to the contrary.

She said, “Some of the phones are worth hundreds of thousands in naira because they include some of the latest iPhones and other smart phones, but our most pressing fear is that if a thief or thieves can operate successfully, who say a sexual predator can also not succeed? This is why we are apprehensive.”

It was further gathered that when calls were placed to some of the stolen phones, a male answered the calls but abruptly ended them.

When contacted, the spokesman of the university, Lamara Garba, promised to find out and get back to our reporter.

However, a source in the school management familiar with the development, said the school’s security said it was about 12 phones stolen and considered it as an insider crime among the female students because there was no evidence of forceful entrance.

He, however, said the matter would soon be resolved with an ongoing investigation.