Lagos - A police task-force in Lagos has seized six vessels used by vandals to siphon petroleum products from petroleum pipelines in Epe.
Mr. Solomon Balogun, Ogun State Area Manager of Petroleum Products and Marketing Company (PPMC), disclosed this in Lagos while briefing newsmen.
He said that the vessels were seized at a tributary of Osun river at Igbonla, near Epe in Lagos.
Balogun said that each of the vessels was fitted with four metallic tanks and two plastic tanks.
He said that the tanks of the vessels, specially constructed for bunkering, were filled with petroleum products.
“Each metallic tank has capacity for 15,000 litres, which means that each boat was carrying about 66,000 litres,” he said.
Balogun said that the PPMC had the information that the theft of petroleum products had been going on for a long time.
He said that the villagers, who were apparently aware of the vandals’ activities, were afraid to give information about them to the company or security agents.
He urged the public not to be afraid of giving out information on the activities of vandals, saying that PPMC would treat such information with utmost confidentiality.
“Community leaders should sensitise their people on the need to report the activities of criminals in their midst to security agents.
“We have held meetings with our host communities and we told them that we will protect anybody who gives us information,” he said.
Balogun said that pipeline vandalism was an act of economic sabotage.
“If we can stop the vandals, we will be able to transport petroleum products to every part of the country easily,” he said.
The PPMC Public Affairs Manager, Mr. Ralph Ugwu, who also spoke on the seizure, said that the volume of the seized products was about 480,000 litres.
He said that vandals had evolved highly scientific methods to perpetrate their act, adding: “It is, therefore, our collective duty to stop their acts.”
Also speaking, Mr. Friday Ibadin, the police officer, who led the task-force, said that the police swooped on the area promptly when it received information that some ‘’strange’’ vessels were sailing towards the location of a pipeline.
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