Enugu State Police command has arrested three suspects for their involvement in railway tracks and slippers vandalism.
The police also recovered the operational lorries used by the suspects as well as the large pieces of the vandalized items.
In a statement issued through the police public relations officer, Daniel Ndukwe, the state commissioner of police, Mohammed Aliyu listed the suspects to include Chukwuma Okoye aged 56; Oluchukwu Igboke aged 25 and Boniface Eze aged 37, all from Anambra State.
He disclosed that Okoye and Igboke were intercepted and arrested on 02/07/2021 at about 0140hrs, by a joint security patrol team, headed by the officer-in-Charge of the Command’s Anti-Kidnapping Squad, at Emene Enugu, along Enugu/Abakaliki highway.
“Upon search conducted on two Mercedes trucks with registration numbers: AWK 296 YX and UWN 471 ZX, they were respectively driving, the operatives uncovered large pieces of vandalized railway tracks and slippers, they both confessed to be transporting from Ezza-Nkwubor, Emene to Anambra State. The two lorries and the vandalized items have been recovered.
“Similarly, police operatives attached to the command’s CP Monitoring Unit on 10/06/2021 arrested one Boniface Eze aged 37, of Anambra State and recovered a Mercedes 911 lorry with registration number: XC 360 UWN loaded with vandalized railway tracks and slippers at Ezza-Nkwubor, Emene, Enugu. His arrest is due to the operative’s swift response to credible information, alleging that some persons vandalized the said railway tracks and slippers, loaded and were about to transport same to an unknown location. The suspect and driver of the said lorry also confessed to be transporting the vandalized items to Anambra State,” the CP said.
Aliyu stated that efforts had been intensified to arrest accomplices to the crime, with the view to charging them to court once an investigation was concluded.
He noted that the success was pursuant to the operational strategies, including collaborative security operations, devised by the command under him.
While frowning at the act of criminal vandalism of critical national infrastructures, such as railways, that are meant for the public good, the CP warned unrepentant criminal elements to steer clear of such critical public assets in the state or be ready to face the full weight of the law.
He, therefore, called on residents of the state to remain law-abiding, vigilant and promptly report criminals and their acts of vandalism to the nearest police station.
