13 alleged railway vandals have been detained by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) with substantial quantities of long rails and sleepers valued at N800 million Naira.
At the NSCDC headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, five trucks carrying a sizable number of damaged rails and sleepers were pulled up alongside the suspects.
During the parade, the NSCDC National Public Relations Officer, Babawale Afolabi, stated that the suspects were detained by the CGs SIS, the Commandant General’s Special Intelligence Squad.
According to Afolabi, the arrests happened in the Manchock, Zonkwa, and Kaffanchan local government areas of Kaduna State as well as the Zango Kataf and Jama’a local government areas.
The spokesperson said that the 13 offenders and five trucks that were seized have been placed in custody in order to conduct profiling, additional investigations, and legal proceedings.
Other conspirators will be detained and charged in court after the 13 suspects have being questioned and cross-examined.
He also revealed that the CGs SIS were promised a sizable sum of money after their detention, but they declined the offered bribe.
He noted that when the suspects were captured, the squad commander was offered N30 million, but he turned it down.
According to the PRO, the NSCDC Commandant General (CG), Dr Ahmed Audi, has denounced the ongoing destruction committed by economic rebels and their allies around the country.
When questioning one of the truck drivers—name withheld— the driver claimed that he was offered N1.2 million in exchange for delivering the stolen goods to Ilorin.
The suspect claimed that he received an advance payment of N200,000, at which point he sent the agent who had contacted him for the job N100,000.
The arrests, according to Nigeria Railway Corporation’s North Central District Manager, Mr. Austin Ashibekong, took place in his administrative territory.
Speaking further, Ashibekong confirmed that the vandalized long railways had been broken up into bits, and track materials are being vandalized more frequently in the North-Central sector.
Their destruction of the long rails, sleepers, android clips, and other railway parts has caused great harm to the management.
Even the nuts cannot be obtained locally, and the Federal Government pays a high price for all of this. Someone will come overnight to vandalize them for their own personal gain.
Praising the NSCDC’s efforts to reduce such crimes and appealing for ongoing cooperation, the District Manager also openly invited any additional security agency to join them in this effort so that they can do everything in their power to stop the recent rise in vandalism.