NSCDC parades 10 suspected oil thieves, 7 telecom vandals, cease 6 trucks

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) at the weekend, paraded 10 suspected oil thieves and apprehended five trucks of gas and one truck load of petroleum product.

Also paraded were seven suspected vandals of telecommunication cables in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Parading the suspects at the corps headquarters in Abuja, the NSCDC Commandant General, Dr. Ade Abolurin, said the suspects were some of the unscrupulous elements who sabotage government effort.

He said the oil thieves were arrested in Dobi, at Gwagwalada Area Council, while the cables vandals were arrested at the Federal Secretariat and airport road respectively.

Giving insight on the activities of the suspected oil thieves, Abolurin said the suspects deal in adulterated gas which they supply to the members of the public.

“This people are neither registered with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), nor Department for Petroleum Resources (DPR), which also give them a free license to supply fake products in to the market”.

He said despite the fact that the trucks carry names of renowned oil dealers like SIMEC gas, the owners deny knowing them.

“We contacted those they claimed to be working with but those people denied knowing them. I assure you that we are still making contacts and if there are more people who are involved in this illegal transaction we will arrest and parade them, he said.

On his part, one of the suspects, Emmanuel Ejofiko, who spoke through his lawyer, Nnamdi Nweke, said his client who operates CEENKO Gas Limited has been in the business for about 17 years and has all the papers that permit him to transact his business.

“We have all our documents and we transact business with credible Nigerians. However, we are not aware of the registration with the NNPC, but now that we know, we will go and register”.