NSCDC Recovers Stolen Crude, Arrests Suspects In Imo

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has captured five alleged oil bunkers and impounded four vehicles in Imo State.

The accused also had around 30,000 litres of Automotive Gas Oil confiscated from them.

Matthew Ovye, the commandant of the NSCDC in Imo, revealed this while parading the suspects in Owerri on Tuesday, December 12.

Ovye stated that four individuals were apprehended and their cars seized on December 8, following a tip-off, by the Special Intelligence Squad of the corps’ Commandant-General, Ahmed Audi.

Read Also: Fuel Price To Rise, Petrol Marketers Warn As Crude Oil Hits $94

He added that one more person and a vehicle were apprehended by the NSCDC’s anti-vandal unit in Imo at 4:00 a.m. on Monday, December 11.

The suspects were apprehended in the communities of Abacheke and Agwa in the state’s Ohaji-Egbema and Oguta Local Government Areas, he said.

Mr Kingsley Ngwoli of the Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area said he bought the petroleum product along Abacheke Road in Oguta without knowing it was the result of illicit bunkering.

The commandant went on to say that the command has substantially crushed the operations of vandals in the state and that it will not rest until they are reduced to the bare minimum.

“In the past, they used to move with trucks but now they use salon cars and smaller vehicles, meaning that we have really decimated them and they are now in hiding.

“With the C-G’s combined team and holistic synergy with sister agencies, we’ll nip this in the bud”, he said.

He went on to say that the accused would face charges after an inquiry.

He urged Imo citizens to report suspicious crimes to security services so that they can protect Nigerians’ lives and property.