Police operatives attached to Petroleum Products and Marketing Company, PPMC, Warri depot, weekend, reportedly arrested five persons in connection with illicit oil deal.

It was gathered that the invasion of the hideout by vandals at Okpurishigbene community, otherwise known as Crayfish Village in Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State, by the operatives led to the recovery of about 13,000 litres of locally-refined diesel and four speed boats.

Speaking on the arrest, the Commander, IGP Task Force on Pipeline Vandalisation, PPMC depot, Warri Refinery,  SP Mohammed El-Yakubu, disclosed that based on intelligence report, the Command had kept a close watch on the activities at the vandal’s camp for quite a while.

According to him, “my men and I have been on the trail of this very cartel that specialises in converting stolen crude to cooked diesel for sometimes in this area and we immediately moved in to effect arrest when we were convinced it was appropriate to do so.

Over 2bn litres of petroleum products transported through pipelines in 2 years – NPSC(Opens in a new browser tab)

“We wish to express our profound appreciation to our Commander in Abuja, CSP Abiba Adamu, who had shown so much commitment to our resolve to curb pipeline vandalism in our area of coverage by supporting all our operations to remote areas.”

He said the arrested suspects will be charged to court after investigations have been concluded and that the impounded product would be handed over to PPMC for evacuation after it had been authorised by DPR for discounting.