Police arrests suspected rail track vandals in Benue

Police operatives on Wednesday arrested a criminal syndicate responsible for vandalisation of rail tracks in the North-West and North-Central parts of the country.

The Force Spokesman, Frank Mba, who disclosed this in a statement, said the arrest of the suspect was part of efforts by the force to clamp down on individuals behind the vandalisation of rail track and other economic crimes in the country.

He added that the suspects were among 36 others arrested for banditry, kidnapping and armed robbery among others.

Mba said: “The arrests were achieved as a result of sustained nationwide tactical, anti-crime operations by the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and the Special Tactical Squad (STS) in the ongoing efforts aimed at stemming criminal activities particularly violent crimes in the country.

READ ALSO: Nigerian govt may consider death penalty for vandalisation of rail tracks – Amaechi

“Exhibits recovered in the operations 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 N1,400,000, 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 , Abdullahi Musa, and Usman Umar were arrested following a coordinated intelligence-driven special operation on 27th May 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.”

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