The Commandant, Kwara State Command, NSCDC, Mr. Pedro Ideba, said the suspects included three security men, adding that the security men had confessed to the crime.

He added that some vandalised high-tension cables, transmitter and transformer belonging to NITEL were allegedly sold to two buyers in Ilorin.

The commandant said the buyers could not produce documents to authenticate ownership of the items.

He added that it was during a search in one of the buyers’ house that two industrial generators belonging to the government were also discovered.

He said, “NITEL still has some telecommunication equipment on its premises in Ilorin. The men stole from the equipment and offered N140,000 bribe to NSCDC personnel to stop criminal investigation into their alleged offences.”

The 62-year-old former NITEL territorial manager claimed that he decided to move out the equipment from NITEL premises for safekeeping, but was forced to sell the equipment by prospective buyers.

The two buyers, Ugwuma Marcelius and Chukwudi Mba,  said they bought the items from auction sale organised by the National Telecommunications Commission in April, and claimed  that they had documents to prove that the equipment were bought during the auction.

They claimed to have bought the generators for N650,000 each, while the NITEL transmitter and high-tension cables were bought for N700,000.