Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force have smashed a criminal syndicate responsible for recent economic sabotage and vandalism of rail tracks in the North-west and North-central parts of the country.
The Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), CP Frank Mba, made this known while parading 36 suspects arrested for various crimes before journalists, Wednesday at the Headquarters of the Special Tactical Squad (STS) in Abuja.
Mba said, “The arrest of the suspects 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.”
He said the suspects involved in the rail track vandalism: Idris Lawal, 42, Abdullahi Musa, 29, and Usman Umar, 22, were arrested following a coordinated intelligence-driven special operation on May 27, 2021, which uncovered a warehouse in Gboko LGA of Benue state.
“A cordon and search operation conducted by the Police operatives on the building revealed different vandalized rail equipment, stolen rail installation racks, 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 vandalised rail items transported from the warehouse.”
According to the Spokesperson, investigation was ongoing to identity the destination, the targeted criminal receivers, end-users as well as other suspects complicit in the crime.
The FPRO also paraded a six-man armed robbery and kidnapping syndicate linked to several violent crimes in Ondo and Ekiti states axis of the South-western part of the country.
He said their arrest followed the interrogation of one Umar Mohammed, 60, who has been on the wanted list of the Police for transporting firearms and ammunition on behalf of notorious criminals and has carried out major operations in the South-west states.
“Further investigations by the Police team led to the arrest of five of Mohammed’s gang members: Umar Abubakar, 22, Muhammed Bello, 52, Sale Lawali, 25, Usman Muhammed, 20, and Musa Ibrahim, 53, that utilise the weapons he provided to carry out series of kidnapping and armed robbery operations.
Similarly, one Prince Reuben was also paraded for conspiring with of his friends to kidnap, gang rape, and kill a mother of four, Joy Saturday in Rivers state.
Fielding questions from journalists Reuben confessed to luring the deceased, who had bought land from him earlier, under the pretext that he had property for sale.
According to him, alongside his friends: Nwaba, Promise, and Chinedu, they kidnapped, raped her, and stole N20,000 from her.
He, however, claimed that Nwaba was the one that shut her with a locally made weapon while Chinedu brought the acid they poured on the corpse before burying it in the bush.”
Mba listed the exhibits recovered from the suspects to include: eight AK49 rifles, three AK47 rifles, one locally made rifle, 346 rounds of AK47 live ammunition, 24 live cartridges, 20 AK47 magazine, cash sum of N1,4million, two Toyota Corolla cars with Reg, No. Abuja – RBC 653 AE and ABC 906 AG), one Toyota Camry, one 307 Peugeot with Reg No Abuja – BWR 920 HK, one 406 Peugeot and one Honda Civic car.
He said all the suspects would be charged to court on completion of investigations.
