Troops from 4 Special Forces of the Nigerian Army Doma, Nasarawa State, have arrested three suspects for rail track vandalism in the Kwarra community of Keana Local Government Area.

Maj. Joseph Afolasade, a spokesperson for the 4 Special Forces Command, Doma, disclosed this at a news briefing on Monday.

Mr Afolashade said troops intercepted the suspects during a patrol in the community at about 11:00 p.m. on August 5.

“The suspects were arrested with a large quantity of rail tracks loaded in one 18-tyre truck with registration number DED 364 YC,” he said.

He said the suspects claimed they were deceived by their sponsors, who are still on the run.

Mr Afolasade said preliminary investigation revealed that on August 23, the truck driver, Chibuki Akubilo, was contacted to convey the vandalised rail tracks to Ilorin in Kwara for N1.6 million.

He further said the commander of the special forces, Maj.-Gen. Hillary Nzan, had approved that the suspects be handed over to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for further investigation and prosecution.

He, therefore, handed over the suspects to the representative of the state command of NSCDC.

Responding, the NSCDC spokesperson, Jerry Victor, expressed gratitude to the army for collaborating with the corps to tackle insecurity in the state.

“Usually, this type of crime is being committed by a syndicate,” Mr Victor said.

He promised that the investigation would be continued to arrest other members of the group for prosecution.

The truck driver told reporters that one Charles contacted him to convey the items to Ilorin.

(NAN)