A 43-year-old man has been arrested by Forward Operations Base troops in Yobe for allegedly possessing 19 seed-planting machines.
The planters were among the equipment handed free to farmers by the state government as part of its Agriculture Empowerment Programme.
On Tuesday, Brigadier General Dahiru Abdulsalam (rtd), Special Adviser to Governor Mai Mala Buni on Security Matters, disclosed this in a statement in Damaturu.
He claimed the individual was caught at 12:10 a.m. on Tuesday with the equipment hidden in a bus on the Potiskum-Gombe Road.
“Today, at about 00:10 AM, troops of FOB Potiskum arrested a man in possession of 19 seed planters.
“The items which are suspected to have been issued for the Yobe State Agricultural Empowerment Programme were concealed in a blue coloured 18-seater bus with Registration No: KTG 449 YG,” Abdulsalam said.
He said the suspect could not provide any proof to show that he was a beneficiary of the programme.
“The owner of the items had no letter of authority for issue of the items to him or anyone else.
“The suspect who hails from Jigawa State claimed that he bought the items from one Alhaji Babaji with phone number 08032837370 in Damaturu at the rate of N50,000.00 each.
“He stated that he was conveying the items to resell in Dutse, Jigawa,” he said.
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Abdulsalam stated that the suspect and recovered materials would be handed over to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps for prosecution.
The News Agency of Nigeria said that Buni had directed security agents to arrest anyone found moving the equipment out of the state.
NAN
