A 30-year-old man identified as Chinenye Mark from Abaye Ohanze in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State was on Saturday morning killed through electrocution while stealing component parts of a power distribution transformer which supplies electricity to the area.
The incident according to reports, occurred at about 3 am at a substation in Amaorji Ukwu, also in Obingwa LGA, belonging to the Aba Power Ltd, a subsidiary of Geometric Power which has control of power supply to nine out of the 17 LGAs in the State.
A commercial manager with Aba Power, Engineer Jude Efidi, was reported to have disclosed that Mark was tampering with the high tension wire without knowing that it was carrying electricity because the distribution transformer below the overhead wire was vandalized in January, this year.
According to eye witnesses, Mark who is believed to be a talented criminal, did not die immediately he came into contact with the high tension because he was screaming for help which attracted the attention of people in the area.
Some of residents said, “We saw this notorious criminal who was on our pole with a torchlight, an iron cutter and a hammer, and we queried him on his mission by this time of the day”.
They said he was badly burnt, and came to steal with someone whose name he refused to reveal.
“We saw two shirts on the ground, with one belonging to his partner who escaped on hearing the sound of a big explosion from either the transformer or the feeder pillar,” the residents added.
The incident, we gathered, drew a large crowd who came rejoicing that a notorious criminal leading a gang of vandals destroying utilities in the area has finally passed away.
Police Division at Ngwa was notified of the death, and they evacuated his remains.
A police source disclosed that security operatives are already on the trail of Mark’s partner, assuring that he would soon be caught and brought to book.
The management of Geometric Power had recently raised the alarm about incidents of theft on its power installations in the Aba area.
