The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has uncovered an alleged diversion and illegal sale of service rifles by some of its personnel.
The NSCDC Public Relations Officer, Babawale Afolabi, disclosed this on Friday in Abuja while briefing journalists on the activities of the corps’ Commandant-General’s Special Intelligence Squad (CG’s SIS).
Afolabi said the investigation led to the arrest of an NSCDC personnel at the corps’ headquarters who was allegedly involved in the illegal sale of a service rifle.
According to him, the investigation was conducted by the CG’s SIS, headed by Commander Dandaura Appollos.
He said the unnamed personnel allegedly removed an AK-47 rifle from his duty post after completing his shift instead of returning it to the armoury.
Investigations, he said, revealed that the officer concealed the rifle in two polythene bags, abandoned his duty post without authorisation, and transported the weapon to Otukpo, Benue State.
“The investigation revealed that the officer subsequently delivered the rifle to someone in Otukpo under a prior arrangement for N700,000,” Afolabi said.
He added that the buyer allegedly resold the AK-47 rifle to an illicit arms dealer identified as IBB for N800,000.
The NSCDC spokesperson said the principal suspect subsequently attempted to conceal the alleged offence when questioned about the missing firearm and reportedly tried to sign out another rifle.
He said the intelligence squad, through covert tracking, surveillance, and tactical interrogation, eventually apprehended the principal suspects and recovered the AK-47 rifle.
Two G3 Rifles Allegedly Diverted in Adamawa
Afolabi also disclosed that the CG’s SIS uncovered the alleged systematic diversion of two G3 rifles from an NSCDC armoury in Adamawa State between 2018 and 2024.
He said the investigation implicated a personnel who served as head of the armoury in the NSCDC Adamawa Command.
According to him, the senior officer allegedly removed the two rifles from the armoury without authorisation and sold them to junior personnel in separate transactions for N210,000 and N220,000.
“The investigation further revealed that the personnel allegedly resold the rifles to a civilian,” he said.
Afolabi said the senior officer allegedly attempted to conceal the disappearance of the firearms during routine stocktaking by falsifying weekly armoury records.
He explained that after the assistant conducted a physical count of the available weapons, the officer allegedly altered the register by handwriting the serial numbers of the missing rifles into the stock records.
The manipulation, he said, created the impression that the firearms were still physically present in the armoury.
However, the investigation by the CG’s SIS allegedly uncovered the pattern, leading to the recovery of confessional and other evidentiary statements from key actors.
Afolabi said the intelligence breakthrough underscored the corps’ renewed efforts to strengthen armoury accountability and prevent service weapons from finding their way into the hands of criminals.
“Internal disciplinary procedures against errant officers have been concluded.
“The NSCDC Commandant General, Ahmed Audi, has directed the Directorate of Legal Services (DLS) to immediately institute legal proceedings against all suspects across these four segments in courts of competent jurisdiction,” he said.
NSCDC Intercepts Telecommunications Vandalism Syndicate
In another development, Afolabi said the CG’s SIS had intercepted a syndicate allegedly involved in telecommunications infrastructure vandalism.
He said one of the suspects was arrested while allegedly attempting to cart away 12 telecommunication panels vandalised from an equipment cabinet.
According to him, preliminary investigations showed that the vandalism and theft, allegedly carried out for financial gain, had been ongoing for an extended period.
He said the NSCDC Directorate of Legal Services was working to secure a 60-day remand order, as well as search and arrest warrants, to enable the intelligence squad to apprehend other members of the syndicate who are reportedly at large in Delta and Kano states.
The NSCDC said the ongoing operations were part of efforts to tackle internal corruption, protect government assets, and prevent critical security equipment from being diverted to criminal networks.
