By CHUKS EKE
No fewer than 10 suspected thieves have been apprehended by traders at Ogbaru Relief Market for allegedly stealing goods worth millions of naira from the market.
The suspects, according to sources, were arrested by the traders themselves, with the assistance of eagle eyed vigilante operatives in the market and handed over to the police at nearby Okpoko Division on separate occasions and in various shops while they were picking the goods.
According to the source, their arrests followed complaints from the traders that they were losing some goods to thieves who pose as potential customers or buyers during the day steal the goods from various shops while the shop owners were busy attending to other customers.
Confirming the arrests, the DPO at Okpoko, Ugochukwu Ugbo, a Superintendent of Police, SP, said the suspects were arrested on separate days, adding that most of them had been charged to court.
Chairman of the market, Ndubuisi Ochiogu in his reaction during their weekly prayers, warned the traders to stop displaying their goods outside their shops to avoid causing obstructions inside the market, adding that by so doing, they would lose concentration , thereby giving the thieves the chance to steal at any slightest opportunity.
Ochiogu who also used the prayer period to call for a free will donation for a visiting blind student, charged an electoral committee he constituted on assumption of office to get ready to conduct a credible election of new market executive, as soon as the state government called for it.
He further disclosed that the on-going sanitation exercise in the market would continue until all the drainages within the market are cleared to avoid flooding in the market during rainy season, as witnessed during the last rainy season when most of the shops were flooded and goods worth millions of naira damaged, as a result of blocked drainages.
