NSCDC apprehends four alleged rail vandals in Nasarawa

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps reported that it has detained four people and stopped a truck that was transporting significant quantities of vandalized rail rails cloaked in iron fragments.

The arrest was made by the NSCDC Commandant General’s Special Intelligence Squad, according to a statement signed and issued by Babawale Afolabi, the Corps Spokesperson, on Thursday.

In Sabon Pagi, Lafia, Nasarawa State, according to Afolabi, the truck and the four suspects were detained on Monday while traveling on the Lafia-Akwanga-Abuja motorway.

The four suspects have been detained, he continued, in order to conduct additional inquiries and take further action.

“On August 14, 2023, around 10: 30 hrs., the CG’s Special Intelligence Squad, who are on specialized operation to checkmate malicious actions of rail line vandals, detained four suspected vandals who disguised themselves as scavengers,” said the statement.

“It was later found that the suspects had vandalized rail track irons and concealed them among scrap iron materials before loading the vandalized rail track irons into a truck that will deliver them to the customers,” the report reads.

The truck’s specifics were provided, including that it was an articulated DAF truck with the license plate BSA 899XA, and that Anasi Ali, the driver who is 27 years old, is one of the four accused vandals. The other three are an escort, Nasiru Abdullahi, 28, Yusuf Idris, 25, Hafis Idris, 18, and Idris Idris.

“A DAF truck, significant amounts of offloaded scrap irons, and significant amounts of vandalized railroad irons were retrieved from the vandals.”

According to the Corps, a preliminary investigation revealed that the vandals loaded the rail truck with irons and slippers in Makurdi, Benue State, disguised them as scrap irons to appear like scraps, and then transported the vandalized goods to an unnamed iron and steel company in Ilorin, Kwara State, before being stopped and taken into custody.

The offenders will be charged in court following a thorough inquiry that Commandant General of the NSCDC Ahmed Audi has ordered.