The suspects
A suspected dealer in stolen communications cables, fingered to be the kingpin behind missing communication cables, Gideon Ioenes, has been apprehended by men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Lokoja.
He was nabbed at the weekend at his hideout after the corps began the investigation of nine persons linked to the stolen 18 rolls of communication dots valued at N5.4 million. The suspects, who are the ad-hoc staff of Success Communication company had claimed to embark on the criminal exercise because the firm refused to pay them their salaries after several months.
Parading the suspects in Lokoja on Thursday, the state Commandant of the NSCDC, Michael Ochogwu, stated the suspects were arrested based on a tip-off of the scam going on at the site of the Federal Government project on satellite communication, which was sublet to Success Communication Company. He stated his men were only able to recover three out of the 18 stolen rolls of communication dots as the suspects had sold the rest to a businessman based in Lagos.
The Commandant added that N130,000 was found on the suspects, which is suspected to be part of the proceeds realized from the sale of the cables. He stated two of the suspects were helping the organization to track down the buyers of the cables and other accomplices now at large.
One of the suspects, Alhassan Salisu, stated they had worked for the company but the management were reluctant in paying them, hence they decided to move the dots away after their supervisor lured them into the act. As stated by Salisu, they were oblivious of the conspiracy because they never believed their own supervisor would trick them into the quagmire they have found themselves.
Guardian