The Nigerian Navy on Tuesday said it had arrested Mr Shaibu Ogunmola, an alleged notorious pipeline vandal kingpin under its Operation Awase in Lagos State.
Operation Awase was set up by the Nigerian Army in collaboration with the Nigerian Navy in 2014 to tackle the vandalism of the NNPC pipelines in Majidun, Ikorodu and other parts of the state and to crave the maximum cooperation of host communities.
Rear Admiral Obed Ngalabak, Leader of the operation, told newsmen that Shuaibu and his boys were known for vandalising oil pipelines under the Altas Cove covering about 70 kilometers.
The Atlas Cove Depot in Lagos was designed to receive imported petroleum products and through the line, products are distributed to various parts of the country.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that at the Ilashe Community where Shuaibu operates, drums were buried by the sides of the each pipeline to siphon products when being released from the Atlas cove to other depots.
“Two weeks back, we got information about the operation of some people in Ilashe, part of Atlas Cove.
“Following that information, we came and realised that the oil pipelines have been divided into fields by three people, Shuaibu, Barshiru, and Dele.
“The arrest of Shuaibu which we did last week on Jan. 17 was in line with the operation Awase which is about the protection of oil pipelines.
“He is the ring leader and has been in this business for over 30 years,’’ he said
He said that Shuaibu had groomed some boys in the business adding that his arrest was significant in ensuring the end of vandalism in Nigeria.
Ngalabak said Shuaibu would soon be handed over to the relevant agency for immediate and proper prosecution to serve as a deterrent to his boys and others in the line of business.
“We hope that Shuaibu’s arrest will yield results and that proper people in position will do all that is required to punish him,’’ he added
He said that the operation would not rest until all those involved in oil pipeline vandalism were arrested and brought to book.
“We still have about three Shuaibu’s, we have Dele, we have Bashiru, and one other person and we are after them.
“We are not going to rest until we get them, except if they leave Nigeria but we will make sure that we get them.
“And we know that they will not leave because this is where they make their money; but if they leave here, that is good for us because that is our aim but if they come back, we will get them,’’ he said.
He called for support on logistics for the operations to work effectively and urged Nigerian to support every effort that would help to curb pipeline vandalism for economic growth and development in the country.
(NAN)
