New Telegraph

How oil theft syndicate was organised by rich, influential people –Military

At the early hours of Monday, November 30, precisely by 5.30 am, the military and other security agencies swooped on and intercepted nine trucks, arresting 10 suspects. Six of the trucks were already loaded with Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), while the remaining three trucks were yet to be loaded at the time.

At the sight of the armed military men in their patrol Hilux van, some of the drivers of the trucks took to their heels. They abandoned their trucks and escaped behind the Forthright Estate Garden at Arepo in Ogun State.

The Joint Force Commander of Operational Awatse, Flag Officer Commanding (FOC), Western Naval Command (WNC), Rear Admiral Oladele Daji and the Deputy Force Commander, General Officer Commanding (GOC), 81 Division, Nigerian Army (NA), Maj. Gen. Godwin Umelo, were there on a tip off. The armed soldiers had accompanied them to the Atlas Cove near Moseimi where the oil theft was being carried out on foot.

The loading base is 3 kilometre away from the Pipeline. When the soldiers got there, they discovered polythene bags, each containing 200 litres, and hose with multiple heads to make loading faster. Daji said: “This is a crime syndicate organised by rich and influential people considering the amount of money put in to carry out the operation.

The grading of the road from Forthright Garden Estate to where they were siphoning the fuel is about 3km and the road was graded for this operation, even the grader is still here as part of the exhibit. “It is a highly sophisticated syndicate to be able to higher nine trucks, a grader and the procurement of a line of over three kilometers in length. They do all that to fool everybody.” He noted that the soldiers were patrolling to safeguard and monitor the activities of oil bunkering at their loading base.

“We were all patrolling along the pipeline but the main activity was taking place 3.2 kilometers away from the pipeline. This activity that has taken place here in the early hours of this morning is the work of a highly determined criminal gang and syndicate who may have spent lots of money to ensure that they beat all security patrols and perpetrate this act of economic sabotage,” he added.

According to Daji, the road that led to the loading base at the Estate was graded purposely to carry out their criminal activities, adding, “We noticed that in preparation for this act of vandalism and oil theft. The road was graded for the operation, which was a signal that something was happening here, the area is still not built up and it is sparsely occupied that is why it took us sometime to locate the source of the vandalism.

“They hired a grader and graded the road from the front of Forthright Garden Estate to where they siphoned the fuel, which is about 1.1km and laid a hose from the point, where the pipeline was breached to the point of extraction which is a distance of 3.2 km.

They also hired nine trucks, so this is evidence that they are not just petty thieves but a highly organised syndicate.” He however, appealed to Nigerians to continue to volunteer useful information through the Operational Awatse helpline whose website is active.

Daji also said that the maintenance team of the NNPC were on ground and witnessed damage done at the base. The vandalised pipeline, he further said, would be fixed and that the repair would not affect the supply of petroleum products to various parts of the country. Also, Umelo noted that “Arepo is well noted for pipeline vandalism and we got information that the vandals would strike any moment from now. So, we intensified surveillance within the area to monitor them.

The law will certainly take its course even though the army does not have precautionary powers, the Nigerian Security Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) that has the powers to prosecute those involved in pipelines vandals will handle the matter when we are done with the investigative process. The trucks will be destroyed immediately in line with the directive and government policies when the products are evacuated.”

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