The suspects photographed inside a truck loaded with vandalised railway slippers. (Credit : Collins Arinze)
Collins Arinze, Lafia
Again, officers of the Anti-Kidnapping Unit in Nasarawa state have rejected N160,000 in bribe offered by two suspects arrested with vandalised railway slippers.
The OC Anti-Kidnapping unit in the Nasarawa State, CSP Anietie Eyoh, received public commendation from CP Bola Longe, for rejecting N600,000 in bribe offered by the legal adviser of a Chinese firm, Yong Xing Steel Company.
The manager of the Chinese company, Mr. Thai Marra, was arrested along 16 other railway vandals by the police in Nasarawa State.
The two railway vandals, Mohammed Abdullahi and Abubakar Nuhu, who offered N160,000 in bribe to police officers were paraded recently in Lafia.
Nasarawa State police command launched a anti-vandalism operation in May following cases of vandalisation of railway slippers across communities in the state. The operation has led to the arrest of about 20 suspects who are members of a syndicate specialising in vandalising, theft and sales of railway slippers.
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One of the vandals paraded over the weekend said he was hoodwinked into transporting vandalised railway slippers by his boss bought from one Godwin in Agyaragu Tofa of Lafia Local Government Area and Angwan Alago of Kadarko district in Keana LGA.
“I am a business man who sells food items. I heard that there are so many companies in Ogun state who buys the vandalised commodity because that was where we were taking it to before the police arrested us.”
“I actually thought it was condemned iron that was why I involved my self in this mess. This is my first time of engaging in this act and I really regret my action.”
“It was my boss who called me to accompany him and his friend to Kadarko to buy the railway sleepers from one Mr. Godwin who specializes in the business.”
“My boss and his friend ran away and abandoned me in this trouble that I know nothing about. I never knew he was into this kind of business. I am appealing to the police authority to set me free because I am innocent”, he said.
The vandals had already loaded vandalised railway slippers on a truck with the number plate, T-1726 LA when the Anti-kidnapping unit in the state police command led CSP Anietie Eyoh got the information and mobilized his men to arrest of the suspects.
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The Dune gathered that on sighting the police, the suspects ran into a forest near where they were loading the railway slippers, leaving behind their truck.
The suspects later presented themselves to the police and offered the sum of N160,000 in bribe to secure the release of their truck impounded by the police.
Police sources say the truck impounded from the suspects might have been involved in carrying stolen items over a period of years because the number plate on the truck was not registered.
The two suspected vandals were among 15 others paraded recently by state Commissioner of Police, CP Bola Longe at the Command Headquarters in Lafia, for related offenses.
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During the parade, the Police Commissioner explained that the suspects had been in the business of buying and selling railway tracks and slippers from other suspected vandals but luck ran out of them when the Police Command got informed of their criminal intentions.
“The Command developed a strategic anti-vandalism template to arrest the tide of this unwholesome scenario. It is gratifying to note that this template paid off when police operatives swooped on the vandals at their theater of operation while vandalising and carting away railway tracks/slippers in the state”, he said.
