Imported User:
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) command in Anambra has burst a five-member syndicate, which allegedly deals in transporting adulterated petroleum products.
The suspects were ferrying the products from Onitsha to some locations in the South-East, the Anambra Commander of NSCDC, Mr Ali Bala, told a news conference in Awka on Thursday.
Bala said that the suspects were arrested at the Awka end of the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway on Tuesday carrying products worth more than N1 million.
He said the suspects were arrested conveying 40 plastic drums of adulterated products in a 911 truck with Lagos State registration number XL 166 APP under the guise that they were carrying local gin.
“We discovered the truck in Awka loaded with 40 drums of illegally refined petroleum product as well as a pumping machine which they use in siphoning the product.
“These products come from where pipelines pass in Delta and they bring them to Anambra market.
“They call the product diesel but if you see the product, you will know it is not of standard and that is what they sell to unsuspecting buyers,” the commander said.
He advised filling stations, especially the NNPC Mega stations, under whose guise the suspects allegedly committed the offence, to be vigilant over the activities of criminals.
Bala said the command was working in conjunction with Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria to prosecute filling stations that patronisied illegal products.
He said that the principal suspect in the deal had been declared wanted and added that the suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigation was concluded.
