The Nasarawa State Police Command has arrested two suspects for allegedly vandalising railway slippers and attempting to bribe police officers with the sum of N160,000.
The suspected vandals, Mohammed Abdullahi and Abubakar Nuhu, were nabbed by men of the the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the command headed by CSP Anietie Eyoh.
It was gathered that the suspects had already loaded the slippers onto a truck with number plate T-1726LA when CSP Eyoh received the information and mobilised his men to the scene.
Upon sighting the police officers, the suspects were said to have ran into the thick forest. Two of them were later arrested and allegedly offered N160,000 as bribe to the officers which they rejected.
One of the suspects claimed he was contracted by his boss to accompany him to buy rail slippers from one Mr Godwin, who allegedly vandalised the items in Agyaragu Tofa, Lafia Local Government Area, and Angwan Alago in the Kadarko District, Keana Local Government Area of the state.
“I am a businessman, who sells food items. I heard that there are so many companies in Ogun State, which buy the vandalised items, because that was where we were taking them to before the police arrested us. I actually thought they were scrap iron; that was why I got myself involved in this mess. This is my first time engaging in this act and I really regret my action,” he explained.
“It was my boss, who called me to accompany him and his friend to Kadarko to buy the rail sleepers from one Mr Godwin, who specialises in the business. My boss and his friend ran away and abandoned me. I never knew he was into this kind of business. I am appealing to the police to set me free, because I am innocent.”
Confirming the arrest on Monday June 7, the State Commissioner of Police, Bola Longe, stated that the suspects had been in the business of buying and selling of rail tracks and slippers from suspected vandals for long, but luck ran out on them when the command got information about their activities.
