Bauchi police take 17 minors into protective custody over rubber-solution abuse and arrest two suspected suppliers
The Bauchi State Police Command said on Saturday 7 November 2026 that 17 minors found inhaling rubber solution in Bauchi metropolis have been taken into protective custody while police trace their parents. A resident first apprehended eight minors on Adamu Jumba Street on Thursday night and handed them to police, whose Violent Crimes Response Unit then found nine more near the Wunti Flyover. Acting on information from the minors, police arrested two suspected suppliers on Friday and recovered 12 packs of rubber solution.
Checking in progress
This story is still being checked. Claims below are published as claims — never dressed as facts — and each one moves only when the evidence earns it.
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Key points
- 17 minors found inhaling rubber solution in Bauchi are in protective custody while police trace their parents.
- A resident caught the first eight on Adamu Jumba Street on Thursday night; police found nine more near the Wunti Flyover.
- Two suspected suppliers were arrested on Friday, and police say 12 packs of rubber solution were recovered.
- The police commissioner condemned the alleged exploitation of children and praised the resident who intervened.
What happened
Rubber solution — a solvent-based adhesive — is inhaled as a cheap intoxicant, and its sale to children is the offence police say they are targeting. The command said the minors themselves led officers to the alleged suppliers, and that operations against people exploiting minors would continue across the state.
Claim by claim
Why this label: From the command's own statement (spokesperson SP Nafiu Habib, Saturday 7 November), quoted in the same terms by The Trumpet, First Daily and Punch, all read. The command is the primary source for its own operation.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The names, ages, areas and the 12 packs are from the command's statement as reported identically by The Trumpet and First Daily. The two men are suspects; the statement does not say they have been charged in court.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The commissioner's words are in the command's statement as reported by The Trumpet.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
What we know / what we don't know yet
What we know
- The rescue, the arrests and the recovery, as the police command states them.
What we don't know yet
- The minors' ages and circumstances — the statement gives none, and none is carried here.
- Whether the two suspects have been charged in court — the statement says they remain in custody while the supply network is investigated.
- How many of the children have been reunited with their families so far.
Why it matters
Seventeen children were found inhaling solvent on the streets of a state capital in one night. The case is a small, concrete picture of Nigeria's wider substance-abuse problem among children with no money for anything else, and of how much of the response still depends on a passer-by intervening.
Update history
No silent edits. Every change is written here, with its time.
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Published in Checking state — checking continues, and claims are labelled as reporting develops. Basis: the Bauchi State Police Command's own statement of 7 November.