Two alleged vandals have been arrested by soldiers in Otukpo, local government area of the state of Benue, for supposedly manipulation of equipment and facilities in the company Benue Burnt Bricks.
According to the reports, the suspects were trapped on Saturday night while trying to destroy the facilities located along the federal highway in Otukpo.
They were intercepted by soldiers parked at a nearby control point.
The suspects, identified as Wilson Egbanga, 16, and Okoh Akoja, 40, claimed to be residents of the Local Government of Otukpo.
A resident, who gave his name simply as Adaji, told Daily Post on Sunday that some locals noticed suspicious activities on the site and alerted the soldiers, who responded quickly and arrested the suspects.
Confirming the incident, the president of the Local Government of Otukpo, Hon Maxwell Oiri, said the suspects were delivered to the State Department service office, DSS, in Otukpo for greater investigation.
Speaking through his media assistant, Joshua Oten, the president declared that “the suspects were arrested in the scene,” and added that several articles of them were recovered, including heavy metal cutting leaves, a large deck, boats, two large gas cylinders and a smaller gas cylinder equipped with hoses that were suspected to be used to cut metals.
When he contacted, the second in command of Otukpo DSS, Mr. Aba Bashi, confirmed the arrest, noting that the suspects were still in custody and would soon be transferred to Makurdi.
“It is true that two alleged vandals arrested by soldiers were taken to our office, and they will soon be transferred to Makurdi,” said Bashi.