The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has apprehended nine suspects involved in crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism.
The operation was carried out by the NSCDC Commandant-General’s Special Intelligence Squad (CG’s SIS).
The CG, Dr. Ahmed Abubakar Audi, commended the squad for their dedication and effectiveness during the operation.
According to the information made available to THE WHISTLER on Thursday by CSC Babawale Afolabi, the National Public Relations Officer of NSCDC, the arrests were made in the dense forest area of Ommuma/Owaza, located at the boundary between Rivers and Abia States.
The SIS Commander, DC Appolos Dandaura, who gave details of the operation, revealed that the squad had conducted strategic surveillance based on sustained intelligence on the crime scene.
He noted that the suspects were caught in the act of refining stolen crude oil from a vandalized oil wellhead, adding that during the operation, a local refinery under construction, with the capacity to produce 60,000 liters of crude oil, was also discovered.
“Based on sustained intelligence we placed strategic surveillance on the crime scene and apprehended 9 suspects caught in the act of illegally refining stolen crude extracted from a vandalized Oil Well Head; we also discovered an ongoing construction of a local refinery with the capacity to produce 60,000 litres of crude at once.
“While on operational tour across the terrain, we uncovered about 3 well constructed illegal local refineries where crude is being siphoned through the vandalized well head with large hoses connected to transmit crude to Cooking ovens and later channelled to reservoirs after processing; thereafter loading is finally done.
“Visibly at the massive illegal bunkering site you will notice how large hoses and galvanized metal pipes were laid to transfer stolen crude across the processing channels; the site occupied over 15 Modular ovens with 4 fabricated reservoirs and 30 pits dug out to store processed AGO,” said DC Dandaura
The arrested suspects were identified as, ”Oghene Wede (M) 32years, Moses James (M) 25years, Chidi Nwosu (M) 53years, Samuel John (M) 24years, Emmanuel Paul (M) 20years, Oghenevo Nwebi (M) 43years, Martina Whinnypeter (F) 38Years, Nwabuchi Nwogu (M) 41 years and David Okere (M) 20years.”
Dandaura further stated that some exhibits recovered during the operations are: RWD 5.0 GFE-6500 Power Generating Set, 2 Yellow Colour Pumping Machines, Metal and Plastic buckets, Cutlasses, Saw, Mats, Welding Machine, Galvanized metal pipes, different heavy-duty hoses, Head flashlights, some Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) illegally processed in cooking ovens.
He said an investigation is underway to determine the level of involvement of each suspect and identify their sponsors and upon completion of the investigation, the suspects will be charged to court to serve as a deterrent to others engaging in similar activities.