IGP’s Team Arrests 42 Suspects, Impounds 41 Trucks, Illegal Petroleum Products

<h4>IGP’s Team Arrests 42 Suspects&comma; Impounds 41 Trucks&comma; Illegal Petroleum Products<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>OpenLife Nigeria reports that the Inspector-General of Police&comma; IGP Usman Alkali Baba&comma; has reiterated the commitment of the Nigeria Police Force to maintain a sustained fight against illegal bunkering&comma; pipeline vandalism&comma; economic saboteurs&comma; and other criminal elements in the country&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;This promise came on the heels of the achievements recorded by the Inspector-General of Police Special Task Force on Petroleum&sol;Illegal Bunkering &lpar;IGP-STFPIB&rpar; which has successfully impounded 41 trucks&comma; 13 other vehicles&semi; arrested 42 suspects out of whom 21 have been charged to court with 17 still under investigations while 4 convictions have been secured in court&semi; pending and final forfeiture of 14 Tankers and 4 Cars to the Federal Government of Nigeria&comma; with 6 cases pending in various Federal High Court branches across the federation&period; Equally&comma; a total of 1&comma;057&comma;000 litres of Automotive Gas Oil &lpar;AGO&rpar;&comma; 30&comma;000 litres of Low Pour Furl Oil &lpar;LPFO&rpar;&comma; 75&comma;000 litres of Crude oil&comma; and 9&comma;900 litres of Premium Motor Spirit &lpar;PMS&rpar; were recovered between 2021 till date&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In a statement signed by CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi and made available to NAOSRE&comma; the IG explained that the<br &sol;>&NewLine;successes were achieved in Rivers State and some other parts of the country&comma; sequel to the unrelenting pragmatic and sustained fight against collectively by the Federal Government&comma; and the Inspector-General of Police&period; The collective effort has assisted greatly in the fight against bunker traders and purveyors of adulterated petroleum products within the country&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Amongst the suspects that were arrested and paraded before the press today in Port-Harcourt&comma; Rivers State were 31-year-old Rabiu Halidu from Katsina State&comma; 30-year-old Michael Okoro from Rivers State&comma; 50-year-old Arinze Eze from Enugu State&comma; 22-year-old Lukman Musa from Kogi State&comma; 18-year-old Sefiu Ibrahim from Kano State&comma; and 25-year-old Nura Isiaku from Kaduna State&period; The trio of Lukman&comma; Sefiu&comma; and Nura hid drums of crude oil in a truck stacked with sacks of fertilizer&period; They however ran out of luck upon thorough stop and search by an operational team of the IGP-STFPIB&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The Commander IGP-STFPIB&comma; DCP Usman Jubrin Kanfani&comma; psc&comma; reported that the forfeited products which were tested and confirmed by the Department of Petroleum Resources &lpar;DPR&rpar;&comma; and approved private laboratories&semi; and forfeited vehicles&comma; are in the custody of the Nigerian Pipelines and Storage Company &lpar;NPSC&rpar; Ltd&period;&comma; while motions for the forfeiture of the rest are still pending in different Courts&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The Inspector-General of Police commended the efforts of the Commander IGP-STFPIB and his team for their diligence even as he called for frequent operational patrols in a bid to curb the incessant activities of illegal bunker traders and economic saboteurs&period; The IGP equally charged officers and men of the Force to be committed&comma; patriotic&comma; and focussed on their statutory duties of preventing crimes&comma; and protection of lives and property in line with extant laws of the land&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;