Military urges communities to help curb oil bunkering

Gbenga Bada 14:27 - 24 October 2015

Nigeria has lost a minimum of N8.04 billion since January, to the incessant vandalism of the country’s gas pipelines, according to the Nigerian Gas Company, NGC, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.

Ado recalled that troops of the unit had seized several trucks and tankers without suspects in the past and attributed the feat to credible intelligence.

People of Niger Delta have been urged to help in curbing illegal oil bunkering by giving useful information to the troops of Operation Pulo Shield (OPPS).

The spokesman for OPPS, Lt.-Col. Isa Ado, made the appeal during interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ughelli on Saturday.

He told the oil communities to guide their youths against acts capable of sabotaging the economy of the nation.

"OPPS will continue to carry out its operations professionally in line with its mandate and make the area crime free", he said.

NAN recalls that OPPS is the joint military outfit deployed to protect oil installations in the Niger Delta.

Ado said its troops caught nine oil thieves in the act in Delta. "The suspects were arrested at a pipeline within an oilfield operated by Mid Western Oil Company in Ugheli in.

He said that the anti-oil theft operation was carried out on October 17 following a tip off/credible information.

"The troops in Sector 1, 222 Battalion, Ughelli, led by the Commanding Officer, Lt.-Col. Matthew Oyekola patrolling Ozoro/Owelogho in Isoko North LGA, Delta, arrested the nine oil thieves.

"They were caught while trying to siphon crude oil from oil pipeline belonging to Mid Western Oil Company, Ugheli.

"The suspects were arrested with a Volkswagen Passat car with IMO registration number, KGE 17 XD.

"They had prepared a bunkering site with valve and hoses to gain access to the oil company’s pipeline before loading crude to trucks and tankers at about 02:45 hrs on October 17”, Ado said.

He said that preliminary investigations had shown that some youths in the host community connived with the suspects by providing access to the pipeline.