Awka – Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force have arrested a criminal syndicate responsible for recent economic sabotage and vandalism of rail tracks in the North-West and North-Central parts of the country.
Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba who revealed this in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday, said the arrest of the suspects follows deliberate efforts by the Force to contain and clampdown on perpetrators of recent incidents of rail tracks vandalism, carting away of critical locomotive equipment and other related economic crimes in some parts of the country.
Mba said the suspected rail equipment vandals arrested include, Idris Lawal ‘m’ 42years, Abdullahi Musa ‘m’ 29years and Usman Umar ‘m’ 22years.
“The suspects were arrested following a coordinated intelligence-driven special operation on 27th May, 2021, which uncovered a warehouse in Gboko LGA of Benue State. A cordon and search operation conducted by the Police operatives on the building revealed different vandalized rail equipment, stolen rail installation racks, weld-shear, rail puller, other rail accessories and consumables. Further investigations by the Police team led to the interception of three (3) heavy-load trucks along Ikom-Ibom junction in Cross Rivers State. The trucks were fully loaded with vandalized rail items transported from the warehouse. Investigation is ongoing to identity the destination, the targeted criminal receivers, end-users and other suspects complicit in the crime,”Mba noted.
According to him, the arrested vandals are among a total of thirty-six notorious criminal suspects arrested by the Police recently for offences of banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery, possession of illegal firearms, cultism, murder, economic sabotage, cybercrime, car snatching, etc.
The arrests Mba noted, were achieved as a result of sustained nationwide tactical, anti-crime operations by the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and the Special Tactical Squad (STS) in the ongoing efforts aimed at stemming criminal activities particularly violent crimes in the country.
“Exhibits recovered in the operations include: 8 AK49 rifles, 3 AK47 rifles, 1 locally made rifle, 346 rounds of AK47 live ammunition, 24 live cartridges, 20 AK47 magazine, cash sum of One million, four hundred thousand (N1,400,000), vehicles – 2 Toyota Corolla (Abuja – RBC 653 AE and ABC 906 AG), 1 Toyota Camry, one 307 Peugeot (Abuja – BWR 920 HK), one 406 Peugeot and one Honda civic. All the suspects will be charged to court on completion of investigations,” he said.
The Force PRO said the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, has expressed confidence that no stone would be left unturned until all public spaces are reclaimed from criminal elements and a comfortable level of public safety and security achieved in all parts of the country.
“The IGP enjoins citizens to continue to support the Police and the security community as they carry out the tasks of returning our country to the path of peace and security,” he concluded.
