By Desire Emmanuel
Two companies being run by Chinese nationals in Nigeria have been sealed off by the operatives of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) after they were found to be using stolen railway materials to produce items in the companies.
The two companies, Inner Galaxy Steel and Jiuxing Integrity Industrial Limited, were sealed off following a court order secured by the corps.
According to reports, the companies, through a highly sophisticated syndicate, vandalised and stole railway infrastructure in various parts of the country and used them to produce various items, including nails and roofing sheets.
Armed with the court order and valid search warrants, operatives from the Commandant General’s Special Intelligence Squad (CG’S SIS) stormed the Birnin Yero facilities of the companies in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State and recovered the railway sleepers and tracks.
They had since been transferred to the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) to be preserved as vital exhibits for prosecution.
“Confessions from arrested staff revealed a coordinated logistics network where vandalised national infrastructure was routinely moved to the companies headquarters in Aba, Abia State and other branches for melting. The stolen railway items were subsequently recycled into commercial products such as nails and roofing sheets,” the NSCDC said in a statement on Sunday night.
It also stated that those linked to the dangerous syndicate will face criminal charges including conspiracy to commit felony and theft, intentional endangering of safety of persons traveling by railway, obstruction, injuring, and damaging of railway infrastructure, failure to give notice or information to a public officer, dishonestly receiving and assisting in the concealment of stolen property, among others.
Consequent upon these discoveries, it said the closure and investigation orders have been extended to headquarters of the Inner Galaxy Steel Company and Jiuxing Integrity Industrial Ltd (Ahala Ukwa Village, Umuahala community, Obuzor Ukwu, Ukwa West Local Government Area of Abia State, Northern Hub: Inner Galaxy Steel Company, Tasha Rawayyah, Gusau, Zamfara State as well as other branches and subsidiaries nationwide.
The Chinese nationals involved in the management of the complex have also been formally summoned by the NSCDC but have yet to appear over the matter.
