Three oil well vandals were among oil thieves paraded in Port Harcourt by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps on Monday.
The suspected vandals, identified as Ubokobong Uyio, Cletus Abednego, and Ifeanyi Onuoha, were arrested for allegedly vandalising a wellhead in Aluu, Ikwerre LGA of Rivers State.
It was gathered that the suspects had pulled out the heavy tools from the bush and were loading them in a waiting vehicle when they were nabbed by operatives of the NSCDC who were on patrol.
They were allegedly caught with two oil wellheads and some iron pipes, which were said to have been cut off from some oil installations.
One of the suspects, Uyio, told newsmen that he was deceived by a man (name not mentioned), who drove them into the bush to carry out the illicit act.
The suspected vandal said he thought they were going into the bush to carry firewood as he was told by the man, who led them into the bush.
“I am from Akwa Ibom and I am a bricklayer. One man came and told me that I should help him to carry firewood somewhere in the bush. Two other persons later joined us to do the job.
“When we got there, we realised that it was not firewood, but heavy equipment like oil wellhead. We told him that since it was not firewood, we would not carry them.
“The man began to threaten us and said that he would kill us if we did not carry the equipment out for him. But as we put the equipment inside the vehicle, Civil Defence men arrested us,” Uyio said.
Speaking on how the suspects were arrested, the Rivers State Commandant of the NSCDC, Mr. Mohammed Haruna, said they were caught while trying to load the stolen oil facility into a vehicle.
