The Cross River State Police Command has arrested five suspects allegedly found with stolen items within the premises of the SPAR shopping mall in Calabar, where a fire outbreak destroyed properties on Saturday. The arrests were announced in an update by the police spokesman, Sunday Eitokpah, who identified the suspects as Victor Daniel, Gideon Asuquo, Okafor Michael, Ochi Joseph, and Veronica Ebi.
Arrests follow looting prevention measures
Mr Eitokpah confirmed the arrests in a statement, saying, “Five suspects have been arrested with stolen items within the premises in connection with inferno incidents in Spar shopping mall, Calabar.” The police did not immediately disclose the specific items allegedly recovered from the suspects.
The arrests came after the police had earlier said they were taking measures to prevent people from looting properties belonging to victims of the fire incident. In an earlier statement, Mr Eitokpah said there were no reported casualties from the fire at the time, while security personnel were deployed to protect properties within the mall.
Police suspect electrical fault caused blaze
“For now, no casualties; we are trying our best to stop possible looters from looting items belonging to other people,” he had said. The command also said a possible electrical fault was suspected to have caused the fire. “From the report reaching me, the incident started in the early hours of this morning with a lot of properties belonging to people at the Spar Mall catching fire. Possible cause of the fire points to an electrical fault,” Mr Eitokpah said.
The fire started in the early hours of Saturday at the mall, sending people rushing to evacuate their belongings as firefighters battled the blaze. Videos from the scene showed thick smoke and flames coming from parts of the mall, while firefighters deployed equipment to contain the inferno. People were also seen carrying cartons and other belongings out of the premises as security personnel cordoned off the area.
Content creator reports millions in damages
A content creator, Dr Laff, who posted a video of the incident on Facebook, said millions of naira worth of properties had been damaged. “As I speak right now, millions of properties have been damaged,” he said. He added: “I feel very terrible myself because this is a major shopping mall we have in Cross River State.”
The fire affected shops where traders and other occupants kept their goods, although the full value of the properties destroyed has not been independently established. The police have not yet provided further details on the investigation or the next steps for the arrested suspects.
