NIGERIAN PIPELINE VANDALISATION SYNDICATE

A mild drama recently played out between members of a pipeline vandalisation syndicate, who were being held by the police in Ogun State.
The friends, Ogonna Uwakwe and Chima Opara created confusion as one identified the other as the master in the illicit business.
Uwakwe had told Daily Sun that he admired and appreciated Opara’s business acumen, even though illegal, and had made up his mind to join him and improve his own lots.
Uwakwe, however, added that the police had made his first attempt his last. Opara, on his own part, denied any knowledge of the business, stating that he was an entertainer, who also deals in video coverage and argued that his friend was only trying to rope him in.

But when the two were brought to stand face to face, Opara owned up to being a member of the syndicate, saying that Uwakwe was the owner of the business.
While, parading 11 suspected vandals of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) pipelines at Ibafo, along the Lagos– Ibadan Expressway, the State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Israel Ajao, decried the economic sabotage in the area.
According to him, an intelligence report revealed the magnitude of vandalisation of the pipeline, which prompted him to set up a task force, comprising the command’s monitoring unit and operatives from the Criminal Intelligence Bureau (CIB).

So far, the task force has arrested 11 suspects from various locations at Ibafo-Kara, near the Isheri creek, on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
In the latest catch, three Volvo cars loaded with diesel were impounded at Warewa-Kara Creek by eagle-eyed policemen on Operation Fire for Fire patrol. “The policemen ambushed the vandals along the creek, following intelligence report received by the commissioner of police. The Volvo cars were loaded with diesel in big sacks and polythene bags concealed in the car boots and seats,” Mr. Ajao revealed.
According to him, “this shows the criminal ingenuity of these vandals, as the sacks could easily be mistaken to contain grains and agricultural products, but for the alertness of the police men.”
Mr. Ajao observed that the vandals operated between Akute, Isheri/Arepo villages in Ibafo area, using the Isheri Creek and their canoes to break NNPC pipelines and thereafter, siphon the product s. He stated further that most of the vandals were discovered to have come from Ikorodu through the Creek to Ibafo to perpetrate the criminal acts.

Apart from Opara and Uwakwe, others paraded were Olamini Julius, Lateef Akanni, Ogoniama Okirika, Uche Obi and Innocent Udeke. Also paraded were Charles Okenwa, Gbenga Ayodele and Chukwudi Ossai.
Items recovered from the syndicate included 400 empty 50-litre jerrycans used in siphoning the products, a big canoe and a Toyota mini truck marked AJ831 SGM.