Police arrest alleged vandals, recover petrol

Operatives of Zone II anti-crime squad, Onikan, Lagos, have arrested seven suspected vandals including two Beninnois.

Omosebi Olorunwa, Daniel Akinwunmi, Agosu Ogungbe, Sosu Elijah, Rafiu Balogun Whesu Julien and Adams Samson were apprehended at the wee hours of Wednesday, at Owode in Badagry.

Recovered from the suspects were 113 jerrycans of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), 10 vehicles including a Volkswagen, marked XV859KRD, and several motorcycles. They were alleged to have been siphoning the petrol for onward smuggling into the Republic of Benin.

Parading the suspects, the zonal police spokesman, Muyiwa Adejobi, a Superintendent of Police (SP), said their arrest was sequel to a tip-off received by the command on their operation.

He said: “There were over 50 vandals in the place, which is located 30 minutes drive from the major road. When the command got a tip-off on their activity, AIG Abdulmajid Ali deployed a team to the place around 12:30am and these ones were arrested while others fled.

One of the suspects, Samson, 18, who said he was working to be able to generate tax clearance for his admission, claimed he never knew it was a crime.

He said: “I wanted to go to school and they said I should bring tax clearance. Since I don’t have a father and my mother does not have money, I decided to work so that I can generate the money. What I usually do is to fill petrol into the jerry cans.

“It is at the filling station that we do it. I have never been to any pipeline. Tankers usually bring the fuel at the filling station and then, they ask us to connect pipes to the jerry cans to load it. Some people buy the petrol and smuggle it to neighbouring countries. Each day, they pay N1000. I have so far earned N10,000 from it.” Some of the other men arrested are those who work for the owners from Benin Republic.”

Another suspect, Olorunwa denied being a part of the syndicate, adding that he was arrested while returning from the hospital after rushing his sick father there.

Akinwunmi claimed he was going for a vigil when they stopped and apprehended him.

Elijah, an artisan said he was taken to the scene by his master who said they have a job to do, adding that the said master fled upon sighting the police, abandoning him.