Muhammed Abubakar, Reporting
The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, has reiterated the commitment of the Nigeria Police Force to sustain the fight against illegal bunkering, pipeline vandalism, economic saboteurs and other criminal elements in the country.
This promise came as the IGP’s Special Task Force on Petroleum/Illegal Bunkering (IGP-STFPIB) successfully impounded 41 trucks, 13 other vehicles and arrested 42 suspects.
Acting Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Olumuyiwa Adejobi, made this known in a statement made available to journalists on Wednesday after a parade of the suspects in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
He said out of the arrested 42: suspects, 21 have been charged to court with 17 still under investigations, while four convictions have been secured in court.
According to him, others are pending and final forfeiture of 14 tankers and four cars to the Federal Government of Nigeria, adding that six cases are pending in various Federal High Court branches across the federation.
Adejobi further disclosed that a total of 1,057,000 litres of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), 30,000 litres of Low Pour Furl Oil (LPFO), 75,000 litres of Crude oil, and 9,900 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) were recovered between 2021 till date.
He said the feats were achieved in Rivers State and other parts of the country.
He identified the arrested suspects to include 31-year-old Rabiu Halidu from Katsina State, 30-year-old Michael Okoro from Rivers State, 50-year-old Arinze Eze from Enugu State, 22-year-old Lukman Musa from Kogi State, 18-year-old Sefiu Ibrahim from Kano State, and 25-year-old Nura Isiaku from Kaduna State.
The trio of Lukman, Sefiu, and Nura hid drums of crude oil in a truck stacked with sacks of fertilizer, but ran out of luck upon thorough stop-and-search by an operational team of the IGP-STFPIB, he added.
He quoted the Commander IGP-STFPIB, DCP Usman Jubrin Kanfani, as saying that the forfeited products, which were tested and confirmed by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), at approved private laboratories are in the custody of the Nigerian Pipelines and Storage Company (NPSC) Ltd, adding that motions for the forfeiture of the rest were still pending in different courts.