A Grade 1 Area Court in Karu, Abuja, on Thursday, granted a N200, 000 bail to a 33-year-old man, Basil Akpan, who allegedly stole a woman’s Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card and withdrew N184,000 from her account.

The accused, who resides in Mararaba, Nasarawa State, is being tried for theft to which he pleaded not guilty.

The judge, Mr Hassan Ishaq, who gave the ruling, also granted the accused a reliable surety in like sum, who must have a means of livelihood and reside within the court’s jurisdiction.

Ishaq further ruled that the surety must submit his/her driver’s licence or national identity and passport-size photographs to the court’s registrar as part of the bail conditions.

Earlier, Police Prosecutor Helen Ashasim told the court that the complainant, Hannatu Audu of Karu had on July 17, reported the case at Karu Police Station.

She said the complainant went to Skye Bank branch at Karu on July 16 to withdraw some money with her ATM card.

“The complainant’s ATM card got trapped in the machine after several attempts to withdraw money failed.

“The complainant left the bank only for her to receive withdrawal alerts on her phone late in the night of the same day.

“The two withdrawal notifications of a total of N184, 000 were sent to the complainant’s phone, ” she said.

Ashasim added:` Police investigations revealed that the sum of N84, 000 was transferred to an Access Bank account no. 0044258450 belonging to the accused, who used the complainant’s ATM card.

“ It was also discovered that the sum of N100, 000 was withdrawn using the ATM card.”

She said police detectives immediately notified the management of Access Bank of the fraud which led to the arrest of the accused at its Nyanyan  branch.

The offence contravened Section 287 of the Penal code.

The case was adjourned until Oct. 23 for hearing. (NAN)