Friday, September 4, 2026 - 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 spokesperson, Babawale Afolabi, disclosed the
development while briefing newsmen on Friday in Abuja.
Afolabi said an investigation led to the arrest of a NSCDC
personnel at the headquarters who was found to be complicit in the crime.
According to him, the investigation and arrest were carried
out by the Commandant-General’s Special Intelligence Squad, CG’s SIS, headed by
Commander Dandaura Appollos.
Afolabi said that the unnamed personnel, after his shift,
allegedly removed an AK-47 rifle from his post instead of returning it to the
armoury.
He said that investigations revealed that the personnel
concealed the rifle in two polythene bags, abandoned his duty post without
authorisation and transported the weapon to Otukpo in Benue.
“The investigation revealed that the officer subsequently
delivered the rifle to someone in Otukpo under a prior arrangement for
N700,000,” he said.
The buyer allegedly resold the AK-47 to an illicit arms
buyer known as IBB for the sum of N800,000.
The NSCDC spokesman further said that the main suspect
attempted to conceal the offence when questioned about the missing weapon and
allegedly tried to sign out another rifle.
“Through covert tracking, surveillance and tactical
interrogation, the intelligence team apprehended the principal suspects and
recovered the AK-47 rifle,” he said.
In a similar operation and investigation, Afolabi said that
the CG’s SIS uncovered an alleged systematic diversion of two G3 rifles from an
NSCDC armoury between 2018 and 2024.
He said that the investigation involved a personnel who was
involved in the alleged illicit act while serving as the head of armoury in
NSCDC Adamawa command.
He said that the senior officer allegedly removed the rifles
from the store without authorisation and sold them to junior personnel in
seperate transactions for N210,000 and N220,000 respectively.
“The investigation further revealed that the personnel
allegedly resold the rifles to a civilian.
“To conceal the alleged disappearance of the firearms during
routine stocktaking, the senior officer reportedly falsified weekly armoury
records.
“After physical counting of available weapons by his
assistant, he allegedly altered the register by handwriting the serial numbers
of the missing rifles into the stock records.
“The manipulation allegedly created the impression that the
firearms remained physically present in the armoury,” he said.
He, however, said that, the CG’s SIS investigation exposed
the pattern which led to the recovery of confessional and other evidentiary
statements from key actors.
He said that the intelligence breakthrough by the CG’s SIS
underscored the corps’ renewed efforts to strengthen armoury accountability,
thereby preventing the diversion of service weapons 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.
Afolabi said that in another development, the squad
intercepted a telecommunication vandalism syndicate.
He said that one of the suspects was caught attempting to
cart away 12 telecommunication panels vandalised from an equipment cabinet.
He said that upon arrest. It was discovered that the
vandalism and theft for financial gains had been ongoing for a long time.
“The NSCDC DLS is currently securing a 60-day remand order
alongside search and arrest warrants to enable the CG’s SIS apprehend the
fleeing syndicate members across Delta and Kano states,” he said.
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