27 August 2015, Lagos – In its effort to curb the activities of pipeline vandals operating at Ikorodu in Lagos State, men of the Inspector General of Police Special Task Force on Pipeline Vandalism have arrested 11 suspected vandals, including managers of three petrol stations in the area.
Vanguard gathered that four trucks loaded with 115,000 litres of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, also known as petrol, were recovered from the vandals.
Commander of the Task Force, CSP Olumese Valentine, told Vanguard that a 16,000-litre truck was intercepted at Ishawo, Agric area of Ikorodu, Lagos, by his men, led by Lagos Sector Commander, ASP Akinlere Adetayo, while discharging its content into the storage tank of a filling station (names withheld).
He added that two other trucks loaded with 66,000 litres of PMS, siphoned from a vandalised pipeline belonging to the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, at Ilara area of Ogun State, were also intercepted at two other filling stations (names withheld) at Ikorodu.
The fourth truck, loaded with 33,000 litres from Ilara, Ogun State, was intercepted on its way to Ijebu Ode.
Vanguard gathered that the managers (names withheld) told the police in their statements that they were not aware that the products they purchased were siphoned from vandalised NNPC pipelines.
However, a suspected vandal, who sold over four trucks to one of the petrol stations, confessed that the directors and managers of the petrol station were aware that the product he sold to them was siphoned from vandalised pipeline.
He told Vanguard that he was a marketer and that his job was to seek fillings stations interested in buying PMS from vandals.
– Vanguard