Juliana Francis
A truck belonging to Dangote Cement Company is among the trucks, impounded by the Railway Police Command for carrying stolen railway irons.
This will not be the first time that a truck belonging to Dangote Cement Company has been used to commit crimes.
This latest infraction was discovered by Kafanchan Railway Police Division.
Based on credible intelligence gathering, it was gathered that the detectives attached to the station intercepted the truck, which was loaded with vandalised railway iron rails tucked away in a bush at Unguwar Yawa Village, Zango Kataf Local Government Kaduna State.
The truck with registration number BCH-933 XA was loaded with 96 Pieces of standard gauge Rail irons. One suspect has been arrested in connection to the incident while investigations have been heightened to apprehend other accomplices at large.
The Railway Commissioner of Police, Yetunde Longe while confirming the incident, revealed that 13 suspects had been arrested in various parts of the country for railway vandalism. According to her, without Citizen-Police Partnership and Community Policing, it would have been difficult to achieve the arrests.
She said: “In a continuous effort to combat railway vandalism, the Railway Police Command of the Nigerian police force has arrested another 13 suspected railway vandals in the month of May and June 2022. On the 12th of May 2022, men of the Railway Police Command upon a credible tip-off by a group of Civilian Joint Task Force arrested five suspected vandals in Abakwa axis of Kaduna State. They were intercepted while removing and vandalising rail irons of the Abakwa old rail line with a gas cylinder. The suspects are Abubarkar Ayuba (22), Musa Ibrahim (17), Umar Bello (18), Samaila Rabiu (18), Yahaya Abubakar (18).”
Longe also noted that another three suspects were similarly arrested for vandalism of standard gauge rail Pandrol clips property of the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC)/Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC).
The suspects were identified as Benedict Matthew (20), Ismalia Ibrahim (18), and Abdullahi Iliyasu (20), both arrested on the 17th of June 2022.
Exhibits recovered from them include 10 sacks of vandalised standard gauge rail pandrol clip Irons, a measuring scale, and a hammer.
The Minna Division of the Railway Police Command also arrested three persons with 220 Pandrol clips. The suspects Abdulrazak Abubakar, Khamisu Abba, and Abdulganiyu Abubakar were arrested at kilometer 735, along Korota Village, Maikunkele Beji section.
In Abeokuta, at Alagada village axis, two men, Idowu Abiodun and David Titus, both 24 years old, were arrested by men of the Abeokuta division while vandalising rail tracks. Railway pandrol clips were recovered from them.
Longe added: “No stone will be left unturned in the war against Railway vandalism as perpetrators arrested will be made to face the wrath of the law to its full extent.”
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