20th May, 2024
By Kelechi Ogunleye
Nine suspected oil thieves have been arrested by operatives of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) at a huge illegal refinery in discovered in a forest at the boundary between Rivers and Abia State.
The nine suspects were apprehended as they were illegally refining stolen crude extracted from a vandalized oil well head while another local refinery with capacity to produce 60,000 litres of crude at once was also going on in the area, spokesperson for NSCDC, Babawale Afolabi said in a statement issued on Monday in Abuja.
According to Afolabi, the Commandant General’s Special Intelligence Squad (CGsSIS) laid intelligence surveillance at the site which aided in the successful arrest.
“We apprehended nine suspects caught in the act of illegally refining stolen crude extracted from a vandalized oil wellhead.
“We also discovered an ongoing construction of a local refinery with the capacity to produce 60,000 litres of crude at once.
“Visibly at the massive illegal bunkering we noticed large hoses and galvanized metal pipes laid to transfer stolen crude across the processing channels,” he said.
According to him, the suspects arrested are; Oghene Wede (M) 32years, Moses James (M) 25years, Chidi Nwosu (M) 53years, Samuel John (M) 24years.
Others are; Emmanuel Paul (M) 20years, Oghenevo Nwebi (M) 43years, Martina Whinnypeter (F) 38Years, Nwabuchi Nwogu (M) 41 years and David Okere (M) 20years.
The Spokesperson said that interrogation of the suspects and further investigation has commenced, adding that the suspects would thereafter be charged to court.
He said the massive site contained over 15 Modular ovens with 4 fabricated reservoirs and 30 pits dug out to store processed AGO.
“Exhibits recovered are: RWD 5.0 GFE-6500 power generating set, two yellow colour pumping machines, metal and plastic buckets, cutlasses, saw, mats, welding Machine, galvanized metal pipes, different heavy-duty hoses, automotive gas oil (AGO) illegally processed in cooking ovens,” Afolabi said.
(NAN)