The Railway Police Command of the Nigerian Police Force has made an unprecedented arrest of suspects in and around the Nigerian Railway Corporation infrastructure.
In Minna, Niger State, Hadi Mohammed, 42, Abdullahi Mohammed, 34, and Abdullahi Shittu, 45, were arrested with 32 Railway iron slippers loaded in a saloon car.
The suspects were intercepted by the patrol team of the Railway Police Division upon credible tip-off by members of a vigilante group.
The trio were among 15 suspects arrested in the month of July and August, for crimes bordering around theft, vandalisation, and other heinous crime committed.
Also in Aba, four suspects – Michael Chukwuebuka, Chigozie Augustine, Onyekachi Abba, and Chukwuma Adumoha, were arrested in connection with the theft of railway pandrol slippers kept by Chinese Construction Company, CCECC, for construction. Upon investigation, the stolen items were recovered and handed over to the construction company.
Two fleeing suspects; Ridwan Olalekan and Sharafa Muritala, have also been arrested and charged to court by the Railway Criminal Investigation Department.
The suspects were initially spotted in a bush in Akwanga, Nasarawa State, where they vandalised about 72 rail track irons.
Upon sighting policemen, they fled the scene and abandoned their truck vehicle.
Following intense investigation, the suspects were arrested and charged to court. Both have been remanded in Ikoyi Correctional Centre.
The Ilorin division of the Command, Kwara State, also apprehended two suspected vandals; Yahaya Mohammed and Jumai Sule with 113 pandrol clips at Sabongida area of Jebba during a routine patrol.
The Gombe division also arrested one Bashir Abudullahi who was caught in the act of vandalising and stealing 58 railway clips.
Two trucks belonging to Dangote Sugar were spotted in Kaduna, loaded with unspecified amount of Railway irons belonging to the Nigerian Railway Corporation, but no suspect have been arrested in connection with the crime.
However, the trucks have been moved to safe custody while investigations are ongoing.
Meanwhile, the Railway Police Command of the Nigerian Police Force have beefed up security around the railway corridors in effort to reduce vandalisation and theft of railway infrastructure nationwide.
According to the Commissioner of Police, Railway Police Command, CP Yetunde Longe said beefiing-up of the security around the railway corridors has been intensified.
She reiterated on the importance of Citizen-Police partnership in order to bring crime and criminal elements to stand-still.
CP Yetunde Longe in confirming the arrest of suspects, explained that the war against railway vandalism is a continuous one until the entire Nigerian rail roads are free from vandals and criminal elements as perpetrators will be made to face the full wrath of the law.
