Operatives of the Nigeria Police attached to the Inspector-General of Police Special Task Force on Petroleum and Illegal Bunkering (I-G-STFPIB) have raided an illegal petroleum refining site in Edo.
The Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi said this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.
He said the raid was carried out in the late hours of Sept. 7 following the interception of intelligence on activities of an alleged illicit petroleum products refining syndicate operating in the area.
Adejobi said the intelligence was received via a whistleblower through the recently created Nigeria National Petroleum Company’s (NNPC) Command and Control Centre Portal.
He said three empty DAF Trucks, and 31 immobile surface tanks – 7, loaded with an unspecified quantity of petroleum products were discovered during the raid.
Adejobi said two suspects were arrested, adding that preliminary investigations had revealed that the site was also used as a dump site for petroleum products.
He said the I-G, Mr Usman Baba had ordered the Special Enforcement Units on prevention of activities of economic saboteurs to ensure the deployment of necessary manpower and other operational assets.
Baba said the idea was to ensure a total clampdown on criminal activities detriment to the economic growth of the nation.
The I-G had also ordered the Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of the Unit to embark on strict supervision.
In another development, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has partnered with the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), to tackle criminal activities bedeviling the telecoms industry in the country.
NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Mr Reuben Muoka, made this known in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.
Muoka said that senior management staff of NSCDC in the South West Zone had at an exclusive workshop organised by the commission hailed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), sealed between the two government agencies.
Muoka said criminal activities such as telecom equipment vandalism and fraudulent registration of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards, among others, were going to be looked into.
He said topical issues discussed at the workshop covered the activities of NCC as presented by the relevant departments in the context of laws, and other regulations, and in relation to the roles of NSCDC.
He said the Executive Vice-Chairman (EVC) of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said the commission had over the years worked with relevant law enforcement agencies towards protecting the telecoms sector from all kinds of criminality.
“Through despicable activities that are criminal and totally at variance with national security concerns of government.
“The deviant elements in our midst have been acting to undermine efforts put in place to consolidate the gains of the sector.
“These criminal activities include theft and vandalism of telecommunications infrastructure, the illegal use of fraudulently-registered Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards, operating without a license, illegal call masking and so on,” he said.
Danbatta said that the workshop was organized as part of effort to constantly engage and update them on new trends and existing regulations.
He said this required concerted efforts for their implementation towards enhancing sanity in the telecoms sector.
Danbatta commended NSCDC and other agencies for carrying out raids and mopping up fraudulently-registered SIM cards found in circulation.
The EVC also lauded the agencies for raising the banner of awareness on the need to protect critical national telecoms infrastructure.
Danbatta, represented by Mr Ephraim Nwokonneya, Director, Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement, NCC, said the gathering was to explore the deployment of enabling laws, subsidiary legislations and extant guidelines to arrest criminality in the sector.
