Ogun NSCDC arrests ‘fake petroleum dealer’

From James Ogunnaike, Abeokuta

Men of the Ogun State command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) have arrested a truck fully loaded with adulterated petroleum products in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital.

The NSCDC men, working on a tip-off received during their routine patrol, were able to track down the truck on their way to off-load the products at an undisclosed location in Abeokuta.

The truck was arrested with its driver, Peter Ebhodaghe, who claimed that the content was discharged from a 33,000 litres trailer at Wosina Global Resources, in Lagos and was asked by his boss to off-load it at a yet-to-be-known place in Abeokuta.

Base on some useful information by the truck driver, two other suspects, Charles Enwelim and Ifanyin George were subsequently arrested in connection with the crime.

A release by the NSCDC Public Relations Officer, Kareem Olanrewaju indicated that the suspect, when accosted, was not able to provide a good explanation as to genuineness of the product. No document was presented to back up their claims and their verbal explanations were not in any way strong enough to absolve them of the criminal act.

Olanrewaju said, the corps Commandant, Aboluwoye Akinwande had directed that all supply routes for adulterated and vandalized products should be adequately monitored and that any truck or trailer found to be carrying such products be apprehended.

The case is presently under investigation to determine the involvement of each of the arrested suspects.

Items recovered from the suspects include one Mercedes truck, with registration Number (Lagos) AGL 816 XF loaded with12,000 litres of diesel suspected to have been adulterated or siphoned from vandalized pipeline. Other items are phones, documents and identification cards.