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, the suspects were led out in front of five vehicles carrying a sizable number of vandalised rails and sleepers.
The suspects were detained by the Commandant General’s Special Intelligence Squad (CGs SIS), according to the NSCDC’s spokesman Babawale Afolabi, who made the announcement during the parade.
According to Afolabi, the arrests happened in the vicinity of the Kaduna State local government areas of Jama’a, Kaura, and Zango Kataf as well as the Manchock and Zonkwa areas of Kaura.
“The 13 suspects have been detained, and five trucks have been confiscated for further investigation and prosecution.
Other accomplices will be detained and charged in court when the 13 suspects have finished being questioned and cross-examined, he said.
He revealed that N30 million was offered as a bribe to the CGs SIS agents upon their detention, but they turned it down.
Dr. Ahmed Abubakar Audi, the Commandant General (CG) of the NSCDC, had denounced the ongoing vandalism in the nation.
He scowled at the yet-to-be-named iron and steel firms that consistently purchase, refine, and smelt the damaged rail track sleepers and iron.
No matter how powerful or unimportant they may be, “efforts are in high gear to crush and unmask these syndicates and make them face the wrath of the law,” he declared.
