DSS secures conviction of suspect caught with pump action in Minna

The Niger State Command of the Department of State Service (DSS) has secured the conviction of one Usman Abubakar by the Minna Chief Magistrate court Number One.

He was arraigned by the operatives of the secret security agency for being in illegal possession of an automatic pump action gun and four cartridges

The defendant was brought to the court amidst tight security operatives of the DSS and arraigned by the head of the legal unit of the command, Mallam Abdulmalik Sani, a legal practitioner.

According to the First Information Report made available in court by the head of the legal unit and obtained by our reporter, disclosed that defendant was arraigned on one count charge of being in possession of magnum pump action rifles without lawful authority.

The charge sheet marked MN/02/2024 read in part: “That you Usman Abubakar, adult, male, bororo of Beji town, in Bosso Local Government Area of Niger State, that on 12th December, 2023 at Paiko within the jurisdiction of this court, committed a criminal act to wit: you had in your possession without lawful authority two (2) magnum pump action rifles with registration numbers 18-0223 and 18-0254 respectively contrary to section 9 (1) and (2) and punishable under section 27 (I) (b) (111) of the firearms Act Cap F28”.

The legal officer told the court that the defendant was arrested by a joint patrol teams along Minna Paiko road with the gun concealed in a bag along with his brother who is now on the run.

He further told the court that the defendant had confessed during interrogation that he bought the gun from Toto in Nasarawa state at the rate of Six hundred thousand naira (N600,000) for self defense as a result of the incessant armed banditry attacks on their community.

“He was arrested for being in possession of the gun without any authority which is illegal for him to be in possession of the gun without authority” the legal officer told the court.

The defendant however, pleaded for leniency and insisted that he bought the gun for self denfence that the Magistrate should tamper justice with mercy.

The Presiding Chief Magistrate Hajiya Imma Mohammed after taking the plea of the defendant convicted him and reserved the sentence till the 17th of January, 2024.