Navy arrests 5 suspected vandals, recovers petrol in Badagry

Naval operatives attached to the Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Lagos yesterday arrested five suspected pipeline vandals with 136 jerry cans laden with Premium Motor Spirit (PMS). The suspects – Oseni Noah, Toyin Hunsa, Rasheed Amish, Kamoru Ishau and Ibrahim Ojogbele, were handed over to officials of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). […]

Naval operatives attached to the Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Lagos yesterday arrested five suspected pipeline vandals with 136 jerry cans laden with Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).

The suspects – Oseni Noah, Toyin Hunsa, Rasheed Amish, Kamoru Ishau and Ibrahim Ojogbele, were handed over to officials of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

They were nabbed along Badagry Creeks by naval personnel attached to the Forward Operation Base (FOB) Badagry, while they were conveying the suspected stolen products on a wooden boat towards Benin Republic.

Speaking at a brief handing over ceremony, the Commander FOB Badagry, Captain Tamuno Senibo, said the suspects were intercepted by a navy boat on routine patrol.

He said that the boat had 136 jerry cans of 25 litres of suspected PMS.

The estimated volume of the product, he said, is about 3400 litres while the boat and out board engines remain seized.

It was believed that the product was stolen from one of NNPC pipelines that runs from Atlas Cove in Apapa to Ejigbo and Mosimi depots in Lagos and Ogun States.

He said, “It is very important to state that the Atlas Cove is very strategic to the country for its refined reception of petroleum product and distribution to other NNPC depots in Ore, Shagamu, Ibadan and Mosimi areas within the Western part of the country. Consequently, the facility has become very attractive to vandals who go there to steal the product and pirates alike.

“This latest arrest represents a very important achievement of our constitutional mandate and a set back to the logistic requirements of the criminals. The Base will continue to dominate the nation’s waterways in order to prevent the theft of our common wealth.

“The product is believed to have been collected from a vandalised pipeline. The suspects will be handed over to officials of NSCDC for custody and further investigation. They claimed that it was their boss who asked them to convey the product to Port Novo, where it would be sold to buyers. There is no known agreement between Nigerian and Benin Republic for the supply of petrol.”

Assistant Superintendent of Civil Defence (ASC 11), Anyebe Benjamin, who led four other NSCDC officials to the brief ceremony hailed the Nigerian Navy’s effort in combating crime around the country’s waterways.

He also commended the Navy for its sustained war against vandals, and assured that thorough investigation will be conducted and appropriate actions taken.