The Department of State Services (DSS) has issued a security alert on a grand plot by bandits to attack the Abuja-Kaduna train and abduct passengers soon.
In a letter signed by, R.N. Adepemu, DSS director of the FCT command, addressed to the director-general of the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC), the secret police cautioned passengers to be extra vigilant.
The letter is entitled, ‘Security alert: Impending threat by a coalition of banditry syndicate to attack Abuja-Kaduna train service along AKTS corridor’.
This warning is coming more than one year after an Abuja–Kaduna bound train was attacked in Katari village, Kaduna State on Monday, March 28, 2022, where over 100 passengers were abducted and several killed.
The letter revealed that a coalition of banditry syndicates was plotting to attack the Abuja-Kaduna train aimed at kidnapping passengers onboard for ransom any moment from now.
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“In view of the threat inherent and the need to forestall likely breach of security along the AKTS, it is advised that existing security arrangements be scaled up within and along the route. In addition, there’s a need for counter-security measures to be emplaced to nip in the bud the impending threats.
The DSS advised that existing security arrangements be scaled up within and along the route.
Among other security measures, the secret service advised: “air surveillance patrol; surveillance on the rail track; military checkpoint or patrol; and security raid operation be carried out around Byazhin, Jibi, as well as Ija forest.”
It added that the Nigeria Police Mobile Force (NPMF) operatives should be “enhanced with walkie-talkies to sustain escort services on the train.” In addition, the agency called for the “deployment of more Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) with walkie-talkies to provide escort duty.”
