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🇳🇬 Nigeria /Crime & Justice

NSCDC Arrests Personnel Over Alleged Sale of Service Rifles

From The Punch · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Under investigation
  • The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps said it arrested a headquarters personnel accused of removing and selling an AK-47 rifle.
  • Investigators said the rifle was taken to Otukpo, sold for ₦700,000 and later resold for ₦800,000 before authorities recovered it.
  • The corps also said it uncovered the alleged diversion of two G3 rifles from an Adamawa armoury between 2018 and 2024.

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps says one of its personnel removed an AK-47 rifle from a duty post and arranged to sell it in Otukpo, Benue State.

NSCDC spokesperson Babawale Afolabi said the Commandant-General's Special Intelligence Squad arrested the unnamed personnel at the corps' headquarters. The investigation found that the officer allegedly concealed the rifle in two polythene bags after a shift, left the post without authorisation and transported the weapon to Otukpo.

“The investigation revealed that the officer subsequently delivered the rifle to someone in Otukpo under a prior arrangement for N700,000 Naira,” Afolabi said. The buyer allegedly resold it to an illicit arms dealer known as IBB for ₦800,000.

The investigation revealed that the officer subsequently delivered the rifle to someone in Otukpo under a prior arrangement for N700,000 Naira.

· Babawale AfolabiHe described the alleged sale of the AK-47.

Afolabi said the suspect tried to conceal the missing weapon when questioned and allegedly attempted to sign out another rifle. The intelligence squad used covert tracking, surveillance and tactical interrogation to apprehend the main suspects and recover the AK-47, he said.

The same investigation also uncovered the alleged systematic diversion of two G3 rifles from an NSCDC armoury in Adamawa between 2018 and 2024. A senior officer who had served as head of the armoury allegedly removed the weapons without authorisation and sold them in separate transactions to junior personnel for ₦210,000 and ₦220,000.

The rifles were allegedly resold to a civilian. Investigators said the senior officer falsified weekly armoury records by adding the missing rifles' serial numbers after physical stocktaking, creating the appearance that the weapons remained in the store. Afolabi said the investigation exposed the pattern and produced confessional and other evidentiary statements from key actors.

Through covert tracking, surveillance and tactical interrogation, the intelligence team apprehended the principal suspects and recovered the AK-47 rifle.

· Babawale AfolabiHe explained how investigators recovered the weapon.
About this summary

Originally published by The Punch in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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