Navy arrests 6 suspects, seizes truckloads of illegal diesel

Officers on the Nigerian Navy Ship, Jubilee, Ikot Abasi has arrested six suspects for illegal oil bunkering and seized three truckloads of illegal diesel from them. Five storage tanks, generators and oil hose were also reportedly retrieved from an illegal oil bunkering site in Ikot Ibiok, Eket Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State. Speaking, yesterday, […]

Officers on the Nigerian Navy Ship, Jubilee, Ikot Abasi has arrested six suspects for illegal oil bunkering and seized three truckloads of illegal diesel from them.
Five storage tanks, generators and oil hose were also reportedly retrieved from an illegal oil bunkering site in Ikot Ibiok, Eket Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State.
Speaking, yesterday, after the arrests, Captain Suleiman Ibrahim, Executive Officer of NNS Jubilee, who represented the Commander NNS Jubilee, Commodore Ayerinade Akinwale, said they apprehended the suspects through intelligence report and cautioned people to desist from the illegal business.
“We received credible intelligence in the early hours of 23rd October, 2018. On that basis, we deployed our anti crude oil team and we came to this spot where we are and when we got here we intercepted an illegal operation that was on-going.
“We are also lucky to arrest six suspects who are remotely connected to this operation. The oil on the ground causes environmental damage.
“We can only arrest and hand them over to the NSCDC team which would then prosecute the suspects in the court of law.
“We appeal to all those people involved in these illegal activities to desist from the act because it is not only an economic crime, it is an environmental crime. But if they refuse, wherever they are and whenever, we would arrest them and make sure they are prosecuted,” he said.
One of the suspects, Eyakeno Isaac, said he was introduced to the business by his friend and that was his first time, adding that he was a mason and was involved in the illegal business because he had no more work as a mason and had to survive.
“My friend called me to work here and this is my first time of coming here. My friend that brought me here escaped when the place was raided.
“I am a 33-year-old mason but I no longer get jobs; I have two children and they have been sent out of school,” he said.