The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Ebonyi Command, says it has uncovered an illegal petroleum refinery in Abakaliki.
The Ebonyi Commandant of the corps, Mr Francis Nnadi, said this at a news briefing in Abakaliki on Monday.
Nnadi also said that four suspected oil thieves involved in the illegal transportation of the product were arrested.
He said that they impounded an articulated vehicle, with plate number Abuja – ABC 624 XC, carrying 45,000 litres of suspected illegal unrefined petroleum product about to discharge a suspected stolen unrefined petroleum product at the “refinery” in Abakaliki.
According to him, the product was to be delivered to Cross River but was diverted to Abakaliki.
“Our men on Saturday night, acting on credible intelligence, tracked a truck laddened with suspected unrefined petroleum product conveyed from Cross River to Abakaliki.
“The vehicle and four suspects involved in the illegal activity were arrested at a remote but, densely populated area, located at 18 Engr. Abbas Egwu Street, Off Ebonyi Voice Newspaper on the Old Abakaliki-Enugu Road.
“The place is suspected to be used for illegal refining of petroleum products in the state.
“On interrogation, the driver said he trans-loaded the product from another truck, adding that the waybill read somewhere in Cross River.
“The danger is not that they are doing this illegal refining in a densely populated environment, every petroleum product is inflammable and hazardous, and it’s being located in an environment where people are living,” Nnadi said.
He warned those who engage in economic sabotage, including pipeline vandalism, oil bunkering, illegal refining and sale of petroleum products and vandalism of public infrastructure for economic gains, to desist or risk arrest and prosecution.
He assured residents of the state that Ebonyi will be crime free.
Nnadi said that the premises used for the alleged illegal refinery has been sealed and that further investigations were ongoing to unmask those involved in the economic sabotage.
He said that the impounded product would undergo laboratory analysis, while the suspects would be arraigned.
The state NSCDC boss further spoke on the need for a robust synergy among various security formations and the people for enhanced security surveillance and combating of crime, especially during the Yuletide.
“I thank the Commandant General, Dr Ahmed Audi, for sending me to this state and I want to tell Gov. Francis Nwifuru that we are here to help him secure the state,” Nnadi said.
Meanwhile, the officer who led the NSCDC crack team that intercepted and arrested the suspects, Mr Ben Nwachi, said in an interview that the product was labelled “Low Poor Fuel Oil”, according to the dispatch manifest.
Nwachi also said that the waybill revealed that the truck was designated for Cross River at the loading depot, but diverted to the illegal refinery in Abakaliki.
“The truck is billed to go to Cross River, according to the waybill, and what is written there is ‘Low Poor Fuel Oil’, but it is a suspected crude oil product.
“They want to come and discharge it at the illegal refining site, here in Abakaliki.
“They have bought some GP tanks and have even gone to buy more and other materials used for the illegal refining business.
“We got the information and intercepted them; this truck carrying the product was not the original truck that loaded it at the depot.
“According to their waybill, this is a different truck entirely.
“Again, they have locked the truck’s three compartments up and the discharging point down, such that nobody is even sure whether what is in the waybill is actually what the truck is carrying.
“So, they wanted to discharge the product in an unregistered and unlicensed outlet; you don’t discharge petroleum product in that manner, it’s from depot to a licensed outlet,” Nwachi said.