BY VICTORIA IKEANO

Nasarawa State police command has arrested 15 more persons in connection with vandalization of rail tracks/sleepers that traverse the state to Benue state, this correspondent has confirmed.

Recall that the state Commissioner of Police (CP) Bola Longe, had recently paraded before journalists, several persons arrested for the crime, after preliminary investigations further investigations. Among those arrested were, a special adviser to the Nasarawa State governor, two policemen, personnel of the Nigeria Legion and Nigeria Security and civil defence corps (NSCDC), an official of the Nigeria Railway Corporation. Others included the Chinese manager of an Abuja-based steel company, the company’s procurement and legal officers, a former supervisory councilor on education, Nasarawa Eggon local council, owners of the articulated vehicle (trailer) used for carting away the rail tracks/sleepers.

CP Longe had said at the time that investigations on the matter was still on-going while describing the act as “a grand conspiracy involving high net worth individuals who act as sponsors and drivers of various syndicates which specialize in vandalizing Nigerian railway tracks/sleepers in different parts of Nasarawa state, notably, Gudi-Lafia-Akeleku-Makurdi”. He added that it was a classic case of sabotage being perpetrated by unpatriotic Nigerians.

Asked by this correspondent about an update on the matter, the Public Relations Officer of the State Police Command, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Ramhan Nansel, revealed, “The onslaught against the vandals is still ongoing; 15 more suspects have been arrested and three welding machines and one filing machine used for cutting the rail racks into movable sizes were recovered from them”

ASP Nansel continued, “The aforementioned suspects and more that were arrested for various offences will be paraded next week”.