Nigerian Army Arrests 22 Suspected Oil Thieves

Officials of Sector Three of the Operation Pulo Shield attached to 13 Brigade, Nigerian  Army, Calabar, the Cross River State capital, southsouth Nigeria, at about 1 am  on Friday arrested 22 suspected oil bunkerers 162 drums of diesels at the Calabar Jetty.

The suspected oil thieves who siphoned the product from NNPC pipeline on the high sea loaded them in three boats and ferried them to an empty compound at the Calabar Marina belonging to Ezekiel Nkereuwem.

Captain John James, the Army Public Relations  Officer for the 13 Brigade and the Sector Three Operation Pulo Shield said the arrest of the bunkeres followed an intelligence report  which led men of the Operation Pulo Shield to swoop on them.

He said while some suspects were arrested at the Marina, some were arrested at a filling station, MRS Filling Station along Mayne Avenue, Calabar where the diesel was being taken  for sale.

“When our men stormed the compound, they arrested some suspects along with164 drums filled with diesel and 146 empty drums in the compound,” he said.

He said the drums of diesel were carried to MRS filling station where the diesel is emptied into surface tanks for onward loading to trucks and sold to other filling stations.

“At the MRS filling station, they load these products into their surface tanks and subsequently transfer them  into standby  trucks and sell to other filling stations and if you accost the trucks on the way, they show you documents issued by the station that the product was bought there,” he added.

James said the owner of the station, Elder Edet Effiong was also arrested and was undergoing interrogation at the 13 Brigade.

“We also arrested the owner of the station with a police sergeant who was carrying a pistol at the filling station.”

The arrested suspects, he said, would be handed over to the Civil Defence Corps who would  “follow up further investigation and their subsequent  prosecution so that this illegal activity which is one of the main challenges facing security agencies in this state would stop.”

Meanwhile, the MRS filling station has been sealed by men of the Civil Defence Corps and Nigerian Army.

By Emma Una/Calabar