The Abia State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps has arrested two suspects for allegedly vandalising materials meant for the rehabilitation of the dilapidated Eastern rail line.
The State Commandant, Taiye Ayinla, who assumed duty on Monday, said this in his maiden news briefing in Umuahia on Thursday.
Ayinla said the suspects, Samuel Ndubuisi, 20, and Donatus Eze, 29, were arrested at Isuikwuato by operatives of the command following intelligence report.
He said two other suspected accomplices escaped, but the command had expanded its intelligence network to ensure they were arrested.
He said the operatives recovered 23 railway irons and hooks suspected to be part of the materials for the ongoing railway project.
The commandant also said that his operatives arrested one Sule Bula, 47, a truck driver, along with his conductor, Biliya Musa, 31, on Tuesday at Ubakala, near Umuahia, while allegedly conveying suspected adulterated diesel.
He said the suspects were arrested in a MAN Diesel truck with an inscription: TAKL 131, on the body, with 10,000 liters of the product packaged in cellophane bags and concealed under heaps of bags of fertiliser.
Ayinla promised to take his fight to the sponsors and owners of the illegal oil businesses and acts of vandalism, which he described as the most prevalent in the state.
He said: “My strategy is to look beyond the driver and his conductor.
“I will collaborate with the state government, the media and other sister security agencies to police the state and ensure that residents have peace and can sleep with their eyes closed.”
Ayinla, who read a riot act to criminal elements in the state, admonished them to either repent from their criminal acts or relocate out of Abia.
He said he would constitute a team of informants to help with vital information to deliver on the corps mandate of protecting critical national assets and infrastructure in Abia state.
He said he hoped to tap from his experience from Yobe State to ensure that the command under his watch sustained the prevailing peace in the state.
He argued that no meaningful development would take place in an environment devoid of peace and security.
Ayinla said: “I am in Abia to work.
“My administration will promote dialogue in resolving issues.
“We will greatly involve the locals, who we expect to provide timely information to us.”
He, therefore, appealed to parents and community leaders as well as the media to sensitise the youths to the dangers of indulging in crime and criminality.
He said he was studying the terrain and drawing the map of the area to understand the crimes peculiar to the state in order to develop a strategic plan to deal with the situation.
The NSCDC boss said he hoped to deploy available human and material resources in the command to surmount security challenges in the state.
He commended the Commandant-General of the Corps, Abubakar Audi, for his laudable initiatives to deal with insecurity, including the formation of the Rapid Response Squad in all the commands across the federation.