Five suspected pipeline vandals arrested by anti-vandal unit of Kogi state command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps( NSCDC) have escaped from the corps’ cell where they were detained for interrogation and investigation.
It was alleged that some officers aided the escape of the five suspects from the cell.
According to an insider source, five suspects namely; Hassan Sani, Auwal Mohamed, Mohamed Mustapha , Mudashiru Abubakar and Ibrahim Rabiu, were arrested by the anti-vandals unit of the corps for bunkering and pipeline vandalisation on the Abuja- Lokoja highway last Thursday.
They were said to have successfully carried out the bunkering business in the Niger Delta region and were ferrying the products to the North in two trucks when they were arrested by the anti-vandals unit of NSCDC Kogi state command.
On interrogation, they were said to have confessed that the products which consist of petrol, diesel and kerosene were illegally scooped in a forest from a pipeline in one of the oil rich states.
The suspects were said to have been detained for further investigations at their state command office situated by the state secretariat Lokoja.
It was however discovered that by the following morning, the five suspects had escaped from the cell with the aid of some of the officers in the command.
An insider source who pleaded that his name should not be mentioned, disclosed of a notorious syndicate in the command who specialised in collecting bribe from suspects and aiding them to escape.
According to him, “These suspects cannot escape on their own without the aid of these officers because the wall of the cell is so high that it will be very difficult to break.
“Only a small portion of the cell was broken but we suspect that the main door was opened at night for their escape because that portion, we believe was too narrow for any human being to pass through.
“We understand that one of the suspects in the cell gave a phone number of a certain fellow who in turn reached out to some of our men that facilitated their escape” the source said.
It was gathered that the guard in charge of the cell whose name was given as Aliyu Sunday was drunk to stupor on the night of the escape of the five suspects.
When contacted, the state commandant, Samuel Peter Maigari confirmed the incident and said that he has ordered that those on duty during the cell break be detained while a full discreet investigations be conducted to fish out those who aided the escape.
He however said he was not aware of any syndicate in the command who collected bribe to facilitate the escape of the suspects.
