The Railway Police Command of the Nigerian Police Force has arrested 14 suspects in connection with rail tracks vandalization.
The suspects were also being accussed of concealing stolen properties of Nigerian Railway corporation (NRC), armed robbery and criminal conspiracy across the nation in the month of April, 2022.
Commissioner of Police, Railway Command ,Mrs. Yetunde Longe, who confirmed the arrests, said the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Baba Alkali,has zero tolerance to crime in the country and would not stop the war against crime until all criminal elements are arrested and prosecuted.
CP Longe noted that some of the arrested suspects have been charged to court while investigations were also being intensified to arrest others at large.
She further warned criminal elements to desist from vandalizing government properties especially the railways as anyone caught would be severely dealt with the full weight of the law.
Giving a graphic account on how the suspects were arrested, she said,”on 1st of April, 2022 ,the Kafanchan Railway Police Division of the command, upon a tip-off by a concerned citizen, intercepted a BUA Cement truck fully loaded with railway slippers along Bankin-Kaninkon-Kogi. On sighting the Police, the suspected vandals fled the scene abandoning the truck as exhibits were recovered. Investigations however led to the arrest Ahmed Tanko, of Dangoma Village Jam‘A L.G.A Kaduna State, who confessed to the crime, while the police are intensifying efforts to apprehend his accomplices who are still at large.
“Similarly, on 27th of April 2022, the Kafanchan divisional headquarters,also apprehended six suspected vandals loading multiple rail steels into two trucks- one of the trucks belonging to another Cement Company. The suspects :Sergeant Sirajo Suileman, of the Nigerian army central ammunition department, kaduna, Idris Bawa, Idris Musa, shamsu abdulahi, Anthony Moses, and Yunana Gaius, were caught in the act in a bush near Camuru Station, Kachia, LGA, Kaduna state.
“Also in Kano, three suspects- Abdukarim haruna, Hasssan dahiru, Bashir mumuhamed, were also apprehended by the Kano division of the Railway command. 51 railway slippers, 26 rail steels, and several quantities of destroyed rail iron rods and slippers were recovered from them. The suspects have been charged to court.
“Dugbe Railway Police Division, Ibadan, Oyo state, also arrested a Man O’ War staff identified as Azeez Wahab with a BAGCO bag containing fifty (50) NRC tool bolts without a satisfactory account on how he found it. Similarly, the Offa division of the Railway Command in Kwara state also arrested One Ibukun of Railway Mechanical Department (Diesel Maintenance Section) for vandalism and stealing aluminum in one of the unused coaches within the train station premises; while the Minna divisional Headquarters also arrested one Aliyu for vandalizing railway clips in Minna, Niger state.
“In another development, the Bodija Divisional Headquarters of the Railway Command in Ibadan on the 6th of April, 2022 arrested a 20-year-old armed robbery suspect identified as Abdulahi Fatai aka ‘Akube’. Investigations revealed that the case is connected to that of another armed robbery suspect who was earlier arrested in December 2021 while going for an operation”.
