Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Ebonyi State Command, has uncovered a suspected illegal petroleum refinery in Abakaliki.
State Commandant of the corps, Mr Francis Nnadi, said this at a news briefing in Abakiliki, the state capital, yesterday.
Nnadi also said that four suspected oil thieves involved in the illegal transportation of the product were arrested.
He said they impounded an articulated vehicle, with plate number, Abuja – ABC 624 XC, carrying 45,000 litres of suspected illegal unrefined petroleum product.
He said the product was designated for a location in Cross River State but was diverted to Abakaliki, where it was to be discharged in an unlicensed dump, suspected to be used for illegal petroleum refining activities.
“Our men on Saturday night, acting on credible intelligence, tracked a truck laddened with suspected unrefined petroleum product conveyed from Cross River State to Abakaliki.
“The vehicle and four suspects involved in the illegal activity were arrested at a remote, but densely populated area, located at 18 Engr Abbas Egwu Street, Off Ebonyi Voice Newspaper on the Old Abakaliki-Enugu Road.
“The place is suspected to be used for illegal refining of petroleum products in the state.
“On interrogation, the driver said he trans-loaded the product from another truck, adding that the waybill read somewhere in Cross River.
“The danger is not that they are doing this illegal refining in a densely populated environment, every petroleum product is inflammable and hazardous, and it is being done in an environment where people are living”, Nnadi said.
He warned people who engage in economic sabotage, including pipeline vandalism, oil bunkering, illegal refining and sale of petroleum products and vandalism of public infrastructure for economic gains, to desist or risk arrest and prosecution.
He assured residents that Ebonyi will be crime free.
Nnadi said the premises used for the alleged illegal refinery has been sealed and that further investigations are ongoing to unmask those involved in the economic sabotage.
He noted that the impounded product would undergo laboratory analysis, while the suspects would be arraigned.
The state NSCDC boss spoke on the need for a robust synergy among various security formations and the people for enhanced security surveillance and combating of crime, especially during the Yuletide.
“I thank the Commandant-General, Dr Ahmed Audi, for sending me to this state and I want to tell Governor Francis Nwifuru that we are here to help him secure the state”, Nnadi said.
Meanwhile, the officer who led the NSCDC crack team that intercepted and arrested the suspects, Mr Ben Nwachi, said in an interview that the product was labelled “Low Poor Fuel Oil”, according to the dispatch manifest.
Nwachi also said that the waybill revealed that the truck was designated for Cross River at the loading depot, but diverted to the illegal refinery in Abakaliki.
“The truck was billed to go to Cross River, according to the waybill, and what was written there is ‘Low Poor Fuel Oil’, but it is a suspected crude oil product.
“They want to come and discharge it at the illegal refining site, here in Abakaliki.
“They have bought some GP tanks and have even gone to buy more and other materials used for the illegal refining business.
“We got the information and intercepted them; this truck carrying the product was not the original truck that loaded it at the depot.
“According to their waybill, this is a different truck entirely.
“Again, they have locked the truck’s three compartments up and the discharging point down, such that nobody is even sure whether what is in the waybill is actually what the truck is carrying.
“So, they wanted to discharge the product in an unregistered and unlicensed outlet; you don’t discharge petroleum product in that manner, it is from depot to a licensed outlet”, Nwachi said. NAN
