Pipeline guards, wives behind vandalism-Suspects

*Police recover 150 kegs of fuel

Journalists and policemen gasped in shock yesterday after some suspected pipeline vandals disclosed that guards employed as watchdogs over pipelines at Ogijo, Ikorodu, Lagos State, are behind vandalism in the area.

The suspects, who made this disclosure at Zone 2 Police Command, Onikan, Lagos State, said that after damaging the pipelines and syphoning the fuel, the guards would hand the products to their wives to sell.

The 10 suspects were arrested by operatives attached to the Zonal Intervention Squad (ZIS). Items recovered from them are two pump action rifles, four live cartridges, two pumping machines, one army bullet proof, one army face cap and one Toyota Corolla car.

One of the suspects, Mr. Innocent Ikechukwu 42, a buyer said: “I have been arrested and I’m now in police custody, there’s no need for me to lie. If I’m lying, let it not be well with me. I don’t buy fuel from men, I buy from women. Their husbands are the vandals. They give the women the fuel and the women sell to us. I buy for N3000 and sell for N3, 500 or N4000.”

Another suspect, Mr. Tochukwu Ohanezim 34, also a buyer, said: “I buy the fuel from men that guard the pipelines. Yes, these men are employed to guard these pipelines, but they are the ones vandalizing it. They sell to us.”

Ikechukwu and Ohanezim were among  suspects presented to journalists. The police described the suspects as vandals and militants. The other suspects are Oluwadamilare Ojo, 32, Fatai Karounwi 32, Akeju Adeniyi 38, Oyebanji Agboola 45, Mumnbaiu Afolabi 29, Musa Akanbi 32, Yusuf Ajiboye 26 and Ojo Ige, 28.

Karounwi, a welder, said: “I’m an engineer. I live at Ogijo and was arrested after I received a phone call from my friend. I didn’t know police had arrested him. Yes, I’m a vandal. I work with vandals. I assist in boring holes into the pipelines. We move into the high sea to collect the fuel. They pay me N50,000 any day I work with them. I have drilled more than 40 holes at different pipelines. We are usually many that go for the pipeline vandalism operations. We work on land and sea. A friend of mine, Fish, introduced me to pipeline vandalism. I have been working with this set of vandals for two months, but I have been in pipeline vandalism for three years. Some of these suspects here today are buyers.”

According to the Zonal Police Public Relations Officer (ZPPRO) Dolapo Badmus, the first sets of suspects were arrested around 1:30pm on April 17, 2017.

Badmus further explained that the suspects’ waterloo started after the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), Mr. Adamu Ibrahim, angered by the recent ambush and murder of four policemen and an army captain at Isawo by militant vandals, Ikorodu, ordered ZIS to ensure vigilance and also to rid the community of militant vandals.  

She said: “Information was received by Commander of ZIS that suspected militants, who are also vandals, responsible for the murder of security operatives in Isawo recently, were noticed around Ogijo, Ikorodu area. Detectives were detailed to track the hoodlums, leading to the arrest of the suspects. Today, Tuesday, around 3:20am, operatives of ZIS arrested another four suspected vandals with one 150 kegs of petroleum product.”