By Olasunkanmi Akoni

LAGOS—Operatives of Rapid Response Squad, RRS, Lagos State Police Command, weekend, arrested five suspects for stealing 28 iron ballasts meant for rail lines in some parts of Lagos metropolis.

The five suspects, who claimed to be scrap metal dealers, were intercepted inside a bus by the operatives at about 1:15a.m., in Agege, area of the state.

The suspects and some of the 28 iron ballasts meant for rail lines in Lagos.

The suspects— Atairu, 25; Muritala, 23; Lawal, 25; Olaunji, 27, and driver of the bus, Ishola, 38— in their statements to the Police, confessed that an official of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, NRC, sold the iron to them because they deal in metal scraps.

According to RRS Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police Tunji Disu, preliminary investigations by the police revealed that the iron ballasts were stolen from where they were packed for use.

Further investigations, he said, revealed that the iron ballasts were meant for the basement of rail lines.

The suspects, three of whom are ex-convicts, maintained that they were scrap metal dealers, stressing that they raised N35,000 to pay for the ballasts.

Meanwhile, the suspects, along with the recovered metals, have been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Panti, for further investigations.