Officers from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Akwa Ibom State Command, have dismantled a syndicate involved in suspected oil theft and illegal mining, capturing four individuals, comprising two oil thieves and two illegal miners.
Mr. Eluyemi Eluwade, the NSCDC commandant, briefed journalists at the Exhibits Yard of the Command in Uyo, the state capital, yesterday. He reported that 4,500 liters of adulterated Automotive Gas Oil (diesel) were confiscated from the oil thieves.
Eluwade explained that the adulterated AGO, stored in cellophane bags, was concealed with palm kernel shells to evade security checks.
Furthermore, the commandant revealed that two suspects were apprehended on Wednesday, March 20, for their involvement in illegal mining and other illicit activities within the sector.
He said, “on March 17, operatives of the Anti-Vandal Squad (AVS) along Calabar-Itu highway, apprehended two suspects conveying 100 cellophane bags of suspected adulterated AGO. The product was being conveyed in an open bucket articulated vehicle with Registration Number, FGE 680 ZS.”
Eluwade added that on March 19, yet another articulated vehicle with Registration Number BB 825 XX, carrying at least 80 cellophane bags of AGO, was intercepted, and the perpetrator apprehended.
The commandant emphasized that this recent success was the outcome of the Command’s unwavering dedication to combatting oil theft and other illicit practices within the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.
“We have intensified operations against vandals in all parts of the state,” he assured, even as he condemned the negative impacts of adulterated and substandard petroleum products on vehicles, and restated the Command’s readiness to sustain its onslaught against the perpetrators.
He assured that the suspects would be arraigned in court as soon as investigations were concluded in order to serve as a deterrent to others.