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No fewer than 13 persons have been held in connection with allegedly stolen petroleum products and vandalised electricity facilities in Rivers State.
Parading the suspects yesterday in Port Harcourt, the state capital, the commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Muktar Lawal, said they hid diesel in about 110 cellophane bags, adding that “an unquantifiable amount of other petroleum products” were also intercepted.
Six of the suspects were reportedly apprehended with the petroleum products on separate occasions, while seven were arrested with “vandalised” transformer facilities and other electricity items, the NSCDC said.
The recovered items were displayed before reporters at the headquarters of the NSCDC at Olu Obasanjo Road, Port Harcourt.
Lawal said: “On 30th January, 2020, an open-body pickup van, with registration number Bayeåsa XB 325 KMR, conveying suspected illegally-refined AGO (diesel), stacked in about 110 cellophane bags, was apprehended with three suspects at Elele in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State.
“On 5th February, 2020, an open-body truck conveying an unquantifiable amount of suspected petroleum products, with registration number Yobe TO 234 YB and three suspects were arrested at Igbo-Etche, Etche council of the state.
“On 7th February, 2020, an enclosed long truck with registration number Lagos APP 06 XF, loaded with suspected vandalised Power Holding facilities was intercepted along D-Line, Government Reservation Area (GRA), Port Harcourt City LGA and seven suspects were arrested with the following: thirteen drums of suspected transformer oil, five suspected step-down transformers, one 200 KVA transformer, two rolls of suspected transformer cables, two bags containing suspected bolts and forty eight suspected fiber ladders, used for vandalism.”
The commandant said that the arrested suspects would be charged to court at the conclusion of investigations
