In the Rayfield area of Jos, Plateau State, a suspected vandal found himself in a life-threatening situation when he was electrocuted during an alleged act of transformer vandalism. The incident occurred in the early hours of Friday, June 23, 2023.
The news was shared by Mathew Gonsor Gonet, a resident of the area, through a Facebook post. Gonet accused the suspect and his gang of being responsible for the widespread transformer vandalism that has plunged various parts of Jos into darkness. Gonet wrote, “One of the transformer oil thieves in Jos caught red-handed. This guy and his gang are responsible for the darkness in many parts of Jos.”
Further details were provided by Joy Umar Ret, shedding light on the ongoing issues caused by transformer theft in the Rayfield area and surrounding regions. Due to the activities of cable thieves, Rayfield and other areas had experienced a month-long power outage. However, on Thursday evening, June 22, the armored cables were replaced, and electricity was restored.
Unfortunately for the suspect, his attempt at another act of vandalism occurred at approximately 2 a.m. on Friday, leading to his own misfortune. He was electrocuted while in the process of tampering with the transformer. Fortunately, security guards, upon noticing sparks emanating from the transformer, swiftly came to his rescue.
“In my area, we haven’t had light for the past one month because of theft. During the weekend, the transformer was repaired, but during the repairing process, it was discovered again that the thieves came back to steal the armored cables, so they had to be replaced. Through all these, our area, Rayfield road/little Rayfield, regained power at about 4:30 p.m. yesterday, Thursday, June 22, 2023,” explained Ret.
She added, “Today, Friday the 23rd, we woke to the sight of another transformer thief. The suspect arrived around 2 a.m., intending to carry out another act of theft, only to face an unfortunate outcome. He accidentally fell into the transformer fence and was electrocuted by the live wires. It was during his electrocution that security guards from nearby houses heard and witnessed the sparks. Consequently, they rescued and apprehended the thief.”
