Police arrest NRC staff, others for vandalizing rail tracks in Niger

The Niger State Police Command has arrested one Mohammed Lawal Paiko, a staff of the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) and five others over alleged vandalisation of railway tracks. The other suspects are Danjuma Yahaya, Muazu Sani, Yunusa Mohammed, Kabiru Yahaya and Ibrahim Mohammed. The suspects were said to have come into the state from Kaduna […]

The Niger State Police Command has arrested one Mohammed Lawal Paiko, a staff of the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) and five others over alleged vandalisation of railway tracks.

The other suspects are Danjuma Yahaya, Muazu Sani, Yunusa Mohammed, Kabiru Yahaya and Ibrahim Mohammed.

The suspects were said to have come into the state from Kaduna and Plateau states to perpetrate the crime. They were arrested in Paiko, Paikoro Local Government Area of the state.

The Commissioner of Police, Adamu Usman, who paraded the suspects on Wednesday in Minna, said they used industrial cutters to carry out the act.

He said a truck containing 13 gas cylinders and three industrial cutters were recovered from them.

The suspects, he said, claimed to be selling the rail tracks to local blacksmiths who used them in making hoes and other farming tools.

Also paraded along with the vandals were suspects who allegedly attempted to kidnap a housewife at Gayegi community also in Paikoro LGA.

Other arrests made by the police included those of Usman Alhassan and Haliru Usman for armed robbery which they allegedly perpetrated along Maikujeri near Kagara in Rafi local government of the state.

A fabricated AK-47 rifle with empty magazine and 15 bundles of new wrappers were said to have been recovered from the suspects.

The CP assured members of the public that the police would continue to protect their lives and property but asked that the force should always be provided with information that could lead to the arrest of dangerous elements in the society.