NSCDC nabs five with ‘adulterated petroleum products’ in Akwa Ibom

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Akwa Ibom state command, has arrested five suspects with a truck load of 200 cellophane bags filled with suspected adulterated automotive gas oil (AGO) and another truck containing 33,000 litres of petroleum products.

Abidemi Majekodunmi, the state commandant of NSCDC, announced this during a briefing at the command’s exhibits yard in Uyo on Saturday.

Majekodunmi said two of the suspects, the truck driver and the conductor, were nabbed around Itam road, Itu LGA of the state, with an articulated truck containing consignments of illegal petroleum products suspected to be illegal and adulterated.

The commandant added that the other three suspects were handed over to the NSCDC by the Nigerian army, which had arrested them with a 33,000-litre truck loaded with petroleum products sourced from illegal refineries in Abia state.

“We have detained them, and they have made worthwhile statements. We are also pushing further to ensure that all other people involved in the activities will be brought to face the law so that justice can prevail,” Majekodunmi said.

“We will ensure that we get to the root of this case, as they will be prosecuted in the competent Court of law. Trusting that this will serve as a deterrent to all conspiring to engage in these activities. We promise the people of Nigeria that we will look into this case to the very end.

“We have 200 Cellophane sacks filled with AGO suspected to have been sourced from an illegal refinery location. Now the security patrol team, who are always on routine patrol, accosted them on the road and demanded a search.

“On searching, 200 cellophane bags were discovered filled with suspected stolen products. Illegally refined oil is a product of oil theft, and this must not be allowed to continue. Even the degradation that it does to the economy is unbearable, and it is a problem for the country.”