Court jails man for stealing through ATM in Kaduna

Justice Mohammed Tukur Muazu Aliyu of the Kaduna State High Court, on Monday, September 14, 2020 sentenced Adamu Aliyu to six months imprisonment, for fraudulently transferring N40, 000 to himself, from the account of an unsuspecting Automated Teller Machine, (ATM) user, under the false pretense of aiding the victim to effect a transfer.

The convict was prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Kaduna zonal office on one-count charge of theft to which he pleaded guilty. His plea prompted prosecution counsel, Jamilu Musa to ask the court to convict and sentence him accordingly.

The six months prison sentence is without an option of fine. Trouble began for Aliyu when the Kaduna zonal office of the Commission received a petition from one Isiaku Abdullahi, who alleged that he went to an ATM point in Kakuri, Kaduna State on July 30, 2020, to make a transfer to his brother, where he met the convict who offered to assist him in making the transfer using his ATM card.

According to Abdullahi, he gave the convict his ATM card, revealed his password to him and gave him his brother’s account number to help him make the transfer to him. Not long, he received a debit alert showing that the convict had transferred N40,000 to himself, prompting him to make his way into the banking hall to lay a complaint, where he incidentally met the convict again and raised the alarm that caused bank officials to cause his arrest and subsequent prosecution by the EFCC.