Troops from the Nigerian Army’s 4 Special Forces Command in Doma, Nasarawa State, have revealed that suspected railway track vandals offered them N5m for free passage.
Major Joseph Adekunke Afolasade, Acting Deputy Director Army Public Relations 4 Special Forces Command, revealed this on Friday while handing over the suspects to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Doma, Nasarawa State, saying his men turned down the offer.
During the event, 12 suspected vandals were handed over to the state command of the NSCDC after being apprehended by troops in two separate operations in the state.
According to Major Afolasade, five of the suspects were apprehended during a routine patrol by troops at an abandoned railway station in the state’s Keana and Obi local government areas.
The suspects, he claims, were loading the vandalised rail tracks into two trucks when command officers and men apprehended them.
He stated that another group of seven suspects were apprehended on June 18 during a raid at the home of one of the suspected kingpins in Lafia, the state capital.
He did, however, claim that the suspects offered a bribe of N5 million after making a shocking confession that implicated some powerful people in Nasarawa and Plateau states.
He said:
The suspects were arrested with a large quantity of rail tracks loaded in two 12-tyre trucks.
In the course of investigation, the troops arrested additional seven suspects on June 18 who had made confessional statements.
They admitted to have played various roles in the theft of the rail tracks and mentioned names of some prominent persons in Nasarawa and Plateau States as being part of the syndicate.
They offered to give our personnel N5m to allow them go with the rail tracks, but our men rejected the money and arrested them.
According to him, the suspects claimed they were duped by their sponsors, who are now on the run.
He added that the suspects had been handed over to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for further investigation and prosecution after Maj. Gen. Owyinka Soyele, Commander of the Special Forces, approved it.
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