The operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) have intercepted an articulated DAF truck conveying large quantities of vandalized rail track iron concealed in iron scraps and arrested four suspects.
National Public Relations Officer of the Corps, Mr Babawale Afolabi who confirmed the arrest in a statement on Thursday in Abuja, said the suspects were arrested by the Commandant General’s Special Intelligence Squad (CG’s SIS) of the NSCDC.
According to him, the four suspects have been taken into custody for further investigations and action, adding that the truck and the four suspects were intercepted along Lafia-Akwanga–Abuja expressway, Sabon Pagi, Lafia Nasarawa State on Monday.
He added that the Commandant General Dr. Ahmed Abubakar Audi, has ordered a full-scale investigation after which the suspects would be charged to court.
“On 14th of August, 2023, at about 1030hrs, the CG’s Special Intelligence Squad, who are on a specialized operation to checkmate nefarious activities of rail line vandals, arrested four suspected vandals who disguised as scavengers.
“It was later discovered that the suspects have vandalized rail track irons and concealed them inside scrap iron materials before loading the vandalized rail track irons into a truck that will convey them to the buyers” Babawale stated.
Details of the truck were given as an articulated DAF truck with registration number BSA 899XA and the four suspected vandals are 27 years old Anasi Ali who is the driver of the truck. Others are Yusuf Idris, 25, Hafis Idris, 18, and Nasiru Abdullahi, 28 who served as an escort.
“Items recovered from the vandals are; a DAF truck, large quantities of offloaded scrap irons, and large quantities of vandalized railways irons. ” Babawale added further.
He noted that a preliminary investigation carried out by the NSCDC revealed that the vandals loaded the rail truck irons and slippers in Makurdi, Benue State and concealed it inside scrap irons to disguise them as scraps and were the vandalized products to an undisclosed iron and steel company in Ilorin, Kwara State before they were intercepted and arrested.
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