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Caught in the act: Driver steals rails

By Bertram Nwannekanma
26 April 2016   |   5:45 am
The popular African proverb that ‘everyday is for the thief, but one day is for the owner,’ played out yesterday in Lagos when the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Nigeria...
The suspect

The suspect

The popular African proverb that ‘everyday is for the thief, but one day is for the owner,’ played out yesterday in Lagos when the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Nigeria Police Command arrested a man, who claimed to be a driver of commercial bus, Ademola Ibrahim, for illegally removing the rails both under and above the Eko Bridge.

The Danfo driver, Ibrahim, was said to have conspired with one other suspect, simply identified as Kampo, to commit the crime on Sunday, April 24, at about 7:00p.m.

The suspects had attempted to park the bridge rails into a waiting Volkswagen Paragon bus with registration number MUS 457 XK when they were intercepted, while the said Kampo took to his heels upon sighting the RRS patrol vehicle.

The RRS operatives were said to be acting on reliable information to the effect that some miscreants were removing bridge rails, both the ones used to guide the bridge on top and the ones used to tie the bridge under.

A source within the RRS, disclosed that investigation revealed that the suspects have been indulging in such criminal act in other parts of the state.

He said: “About three days ago, one of our patrol vehicles, RRS 153 went on routine patrol and when they were going, they saw the suspect parking his Volkswagen Paragon bus. They suspected something fishy, intercepted the man and interrogated him on his mission in the area.

“The suspect (Ibrahim) told the RRS team that somebody called him to come and carry a load for him and they conducted a search on the vehicle and found about 30 pieces of bridge rails.

“Our investigation revealed that he has been doing that for a long time particularly in other locations across the state.
Their action is capable of making the bridge to suddenly collapse because the rails are the irons that were used to tie the long bridge together and this action is a serious crime that could lead to massive death and destruction of properties,” the source said.

He added that a massive manhunt has been launched to get the other suspect who is on the run arrested, while Ibrahim would be charged to court any moment from now.

When interrogated by newsmen, Ibrahim said he was living under the bridge in Iddo Terminus with the suspect who is on the run, and that it was the said Kampo that asked him to help park some irons with his bus somewhere.

“Kampo told me that he has some irons somewhere and that I should help him park them. He never told me he stole the irons and while we were parking the irons on the Ijora Bridge, we just saw RRS patrol vehicle and he took to his heels upon seeing the policemen and I was subsequently arrested.” he added.

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