Operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Borno State have arrested two private security guards over alleged theft of N5m from the Maiduguri Specialist Hospital.
A competent source told newsmen that the suspects were nabbed in Maiduguri on Saturday following a tip-off.The source said the suspects had been on the wanted list of SARS since May. It was alleged that the suspects stole the money on May 1 after breaking into the safe in the cashier’s office, which they accessed through the ceiling.
“They bought a Honda car at the rate of N2.6m, relocated to Kano and squandered all the money. They later sold the vehicle when they became broke, squandered the money and returned to Maiduguri when nothing was left,” a source explained. The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Laraba Bello, confirmed the incident, stating that the suspects were security men working with a private guards company in the hospital.
Bello said, “On May 1st, our central cashier met his safe broken but the door in his office was locked. They gained access through the ceiling and stole the money in the safe.” She explained that the incident exposed many of the staff of the hospital to untold hardship and trauma.
Reacting, the former employers of the suspects, and Managing Director of HIM Global Nigerian Security Limited, Mr Babatunde Satomey, said the suspects were dismissed from the company in April before they committed the crime. “Both of them were dismissed from the company. One was found misbehaving in the last place of his posting and we dismissed him while the other was not living up to our expectations,” he said.
Satomey said that the security guards in the hospital were owed a few months salaries in the past, but that had been settled. “It is not true that we did not pay our security men for eight months. Whoever is giving you that information, that is not true,” he said.