Police uncover illegal oil depot in Lagos

The Lagos state police command has uncovered an illegal oil depot located underneath the Oregun-Opebi Link Bridge in Onigbongbo local government area of the state.

Dolapo Badmos, spokeswoman of the command, disclosed this on Thursday, saying eight suspects had been arrested.

She said the illegal oil depot was uncovered during a joint raid by men of the command and the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) led by Olatunji Disu, commander of RRS, and Fatai Owoseni, commissioner of police.

Owoseni, who briefed journalists shortly after inspecting the area alongside officials of the state lands bureau, said the suspects had been engaging in adulteration of petroleum products, which they then proceeded to sell to unsuspecting members of the public.

“With what we have seen on ground, the magnitude of the activities taking place here, it shows that this probably must have been happening for some period. It could be years that people don’t get noticed and this could explain why some people would buy new cars, new generators and they would tell you that they put diesel inside and the engine knocks; these are probably the criminal minds behind these things,” he said.

“They have so many drums; they even have plenty tankers here and they must have been doing this for long. They take the adulterated products out to go and sell to unsuspecting members of the public and we end up with people having their valuable items destroyed and in some cases leading to fire incidents.”

Owoseni said a thorough investigation would be carried out, and those found culpable would be prosecuted accordingly.

He also warned those still involved in such practice to desist forthwith, saying there would be no hiding place as all security apparatus in the state would be deployed in “fish out criminally minded persons.”

“We would use this to send a message across to other people that are engaged in illegal business like this, no stone would be left unturned to get to the root cause, to get to all the people that are involved — the perpetrators, the conspirators — and we would ensure that the investigation is carefully handled and done to logical conclusion so that at the end of the day we would get people to face the music and deal with them according to the law,” he said.

“Would ensure diligent prosecution as well and with that, we would be sending a message to other perpetrators that are engaged in acts like that to tell them that in Lagos, no act of lawlessness and illegality would be entertained and that everyone that has run foul of the law through this kind of thing would face the music.”

Owoseni said the area would be cordoned off by the police immediately, pending the period of conclusion of the investigation process.