NSCDC NABS SUSPECTED RAIL LINE VANDAL IN ENUGU
Reporter : CHRISTIAN NWANGENE
Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Enugu State Command, has paraded a suspected criminal, one Chidi Ochili, from Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State who allegedly specializes in vandlising and selling of rail tracks.
The Commandant, NSCDC, Enugu State Command, Mr. Afrika Valentine Ezenyimulu, while parading the suspect, said he was arrested on Ebeano Tunnel, off Ogui Road, with a tricycle load of already excavated rails tracks following an intelligence report.
“On the 6th December, 2020, our contact here in Enugu North Local Government Area stationed close to Ebano Tunnel off Ogui Road, Enugu called on us concerning sinister movement by criminals, on arriving there, they ran into these criminals.
“Meanwhile, on sighting them, the criminals took off in their tricycles with a load of sleepers belonging to the Nigerian Railway Corporation, as they were taking off, luck ran out of one of the criminals, and he was apprehended.
“On ground, we met some of the sleepers they could not really take in their vehicle because of space, and our contact told that they have been there twice that night collecting that.
“In fact, the thing is really a common thing along that area and on this Nigerian Railway Corporation rail lines. So my Officers, the Anti Vandals that arrived now collected and arrested and brought the suspect with the exhibits they could not remove before the arrival of my Officers,” the NSCDC Commandant narrated.
Mr. Ezenyimulu also expressed concern about internal security of Railway Corporation, which he said should be strengthened to forestall frequent theft and vandalism of its facilities.
“We have cautioned the Nigerian Railway Corporation and their internal security to do something about that,” the NSCDC boss noted with concern.
Mr. Ezenyimulu, said the Corps would continue to live up to its mandate of protecting critical infrastructure in the country.
The suspect, Chidi Ochili, confessed to the crime and pleaded for leniency.
“I’ve been in the business of picking scrap so, I as this kind this happen now, I will stop picking scrap and travel to my village and look for another thing to do. I will never pick scrap again, I will respect myself and respect my people and stop putting shame on my people’s faces,” he promised.
Meanwhile, the NSCDC Commandant said that the suspect would be handed over to the Police for further investigation while efforts to apprehend the other four that escaped had been intensified.