Police Arrest Suspect Over Vandalism Of Six TCN Transmission Towers In Adamawa

The Nigeria Police Force has arrested a suspect linked to the vandalism of six transmission towers along the Yola–Jalingo 330kV transmission line, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has said.

In a statement on Wednesday, TCN said the vandalism was discovered on July 29 during a routine patrol by its engineers, who found that critical bracing members had been removed from six towers—T995, T998, T999, T1002, T1003 and T1004.

According to the company, the vandals stole about 130 pieces of tower components, leaving the structures at risk of collapse and threatening the integrity of the transmission line.

TCN said it carried out a joint operation with the police on July 30 in the affected host community, where officials met with the village head and youth leaders and sought their cooperation in identifying those responsible.

The company said the police informed it on August 1 that a principal suspect had been arrested and that part of the stolen transmission tower components had been recovered.

“TCN officials visited the site to verify the recovered materials and reiterated the call for the full prosecution of the suspect to ensure justice is served,” the statement said.

The company added that investigators had obtained useful information from the suspect and were pursuing other members of the vandalism syndicate.

TCN condemned the persistent vandalism of electricity transmission infrastructure, warning that such acts undermine investments in the power sector and threaten the reliability of electricity supply.

It urged host communities and members of the public to remain vigilant and report suspicious activities around transmission installations to security agencies or the nearest TCN office, stressing that protecting national grid assets requires collective effort.