Men of The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) have arrested a criminal syndicate responsible for recent vandalization of rail tracks along Nasarawa and Benue States axis of the country.
The Force spokeman, CP Frank Mba paraded the suspects and said their arrest followed 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.
The arrested vandals are among a total of 36 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, amongst other.
The arrests were achieved as a result of sustained nationwide tactical, anti crime operations by the Police Intelligence Response Team and the Special Tactical Squad in the ongoing efforts aimed at stemming criminal activities particularly violent crimes in the country.
Exhibits recovered in the operations include eight AK49 rifles, three AK47 rifles, one locally made rifle, three hundred and forty six rounds of AK47 live ammunition, twenty four live cartridges, twenty AK47 magazine, cash sum of One million, four hundred thousand (N1,400,000), vehicles – two Toyota Corolla (Abuja – RBC 653 AE and ABC 906 AG), one Toyota Camry, one 307 Peugeot (Abuja – BWR 920 HK), one 406 Peugeot and one Honda civic.
The suspects involved in the rail track vandalism, Idris Lawal ‘m’ 42years, Abdullahi Musa ‘m’ 29years and Usman Umar ‘m’ 22years were arrested following a coordinated intelligence driven special operation on 27th May, 2021, which uncovered a warehouse in Gboko Local government area of Benue State.
A cordon and search operation conducted by the Police operatives on the building revealed different vandalized rail equipment, stolen rail installation tracks, weld shear, rail puller, other rail accessories and consumables.
Further investigations by the Police team led to the interception of three 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.
Meanwhile, 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.
He enjoined citizens to continue to support the Police and the security agencies as they carry out the tasks of returning country to the path of peace and security.
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