Ben Dunno, Warri
In line with the zero tolerance of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, on pipeline vandalism, his team attached to Petroleum Products and Marketing Company (PPMC), Warri depot, at the weekend arrested five persons in connection with illicit oil deal.
Also impounded in the raid on the hideout of the vandals at Okpurishigbene community, otherwise known as Crayfish village, in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State, last weekend were about 13,000 litres of locally refined diesel and four speedboats.
Speaking on the arrest, the Commander, IGP Task Force on Pipeline Vandalisation, PPMC depot, Warri Refinery, SP Mohammed El-Yakubu, disclosed that based on intelligence gathering, the command had kept a close watch on the activities at the vandal’s camp for quite a while.
He said: “My men and I have been on the trail of this very cartel that specialises in converting stolen crude to cooked diesel for sometime in this area and we immediately moved in to effect arrest when we were convinced it was appropriate to do so.
“We wish to express our profound appreciation to our commander in Abuja, CSP Abiba Adamu, who had shown so much commitment to our resolve to curb pipeline vandalism in our area of coverage by supporting all our operations to some remote areas within our coverage areas.”
“We also want to use this medium to appeal to the perpetrators of this illicit oil trade in this area to desist, as the command is all out to sanitise both the land and waterways within its coverage areas of this act of economic sabotage.
“While all the arrested suspects will be charged to court after investigations had been concluded, the impounded product would be handed over to PPMC for evacuation after it had been authorized by DPR for discounting.”