CRIME NEWS

Security guards intercept vandals loading fuel in Ogun

Some private security guards in Ogere, Ogun State, have intercepted some pipeline vandals with fuel belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the vandals were loading the fuel from a vandalised pipeline in the community when the guards arrived at the scene.
The vandals were, however, said to have fled and abandoned two loaded tankers.
Our correspondent was told that the tankers had been handed over to the NNPC, while efforts were ongoing to apprehend the suspects.
One of the guards, Adebayo Mekuleyi, explained that the robbers escaped after they sighted them from afar.
He said, “We got information that the vandals were operating in the area on January 2, and we mobilised to arrest them. We drove there but as we were approaching, they abandoned the tankers and fled.
“We discovered the place where they broke the pipeline and fixed it. We have also reported the case to the NNPC and they have taken custody of the tankers.”
It was learnt that the tankers were recovered by guards working for a private security company, King Young Lion Nigeria Limited.
The Managing Director of the firm, Aminu Joshua, said the company was contracted in 2012 through the UTM Company, which was guarding NNPC pipelines in the South-West region.
Joshua said the company worked with informants and had made a similar recovery in the past.
He said, “We could have arrested the suspects, but they escaped through a path they had created in the thick bush.”
A counsel for the company, Kamros Omosivwe of Glenville Solicitors, said it was unfortunate that vandals were operating freely and hurting the nation’s economy.
He urged the Federal Government to make efforts towards apprehending the suspects.
He said, “These vandals are really hurting our economy and that is why the government must make their punishment stiff. These culprits should be apprehended and made to face the full wrath of the law.”
The spokesperson for the NNPC, Ohi Alegbe, when contacted, promised to get back to our correspondent after getting the details from the corporation’s security unit.
The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Muyiwa Adejobi, said the police were not aware of the recovery.
[Punch]