Kano declares phone snatching armed robbery

The Kano State Security Council has declared phone snatching as armed robbery, directing that any individual or group caught in the act should be treated as armed robbers.

Daily Trust reports that cases of phone snatching have been on the rise in the city in the last few weeks with over 90 suspects arrested by the police and 10 people feared killed by phone snatchers.

Residents have been lamenting over how the suspects arrested and tried for phone snatching are seen back on the streets after just few months of being incarcerated, with criminal experts positing that charging the accused with theft which attracts as little as six months imprisonment and or fine, was not enough deterrence.

But in a statement on Sunday, the state’s outgoing commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Malam Muhammad Garb,a said the security council, which was presided over by the outgoing Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje during its valedictory session, noted that perpetration of the act in recent times has reached a worrisome proportion and therefore needed drastic measures.

Garba also stated that the council agreed to put in place a special squad within the security system to deal with the menace and other acts of criminality in the state.

The commissioner added that the council while deliberating on the swearing in of the new governor said all necessary measures had been taken to ensure peaceful ceremonies and warned that miscreants who might use the occasion to cause violence in the name of celebrations would be dealt with.

“Destruction of properties belonging to the public, individual or the opposition will not be tolerated as adequate measures have been taken to deal with such act decisively,” the statement added.

He said during the meeting, Ganduje reiterated the need for a smooth transition of power in the state, and called for a peaceful ceremony, while thanking the security agencies for the cooperation extended to him throughout his tenure and urged them to maintain the tempo.

The meeting was attended by virtually all the heads of the security agencies and other members of the council.

Daily Trust reports that according to the Penal Code, which is being used in Kano and other part of Northern Nigeria, the punishment for armed robbery is 21 years imprisonment while in the southern part where Criminal Code is used, punishment is death penalty.