A fuel station manager, Niyi Fadaisi, has been arrested by the police in Lagos for allegedly receiving stolen fuel from vandals in the Ikorodu area of the state.
According to PUNCH, Fadaisi, however, bought a few litres of fuel from the vandals as a result of the prevailing fuel scarcity to get supply for his customers.
Our correspondent gathered that Fadaisi, who has his station in Ogijo, and eight others were apprehended by the Inspector-General of Police Taskforce on Anti-Pipeline Vandalism, for allegedly siphoning fuel from pipelines belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in the Ogijo, Ikorodu area of Lagos State.
It was learnt that the suspects included two militants from Ondo State, a petrol station worker, and five receivers of the stolen products. They were reportedly arrested in Ogijo in Lagos and in the Sagamu and Ijebu-Ode areas of Ogun State.
According to the police, the militants were working with a notorious gang of vandals operating in Ikorodu, led by one Ossy.
Speaking with source, Fadaisi said, “I have a supervisor in charge of the station. He was the one who bought the fuel from the vandals. I travelled out of the country when the transaction was made. But when I came back, he told me that our fuel stock had finished, and as a result of the scarcity, he had to buy a few jerrycans of fuel from vandals to sell to our customers.
“It was the fuel scarcity period that made us patronise the vandals.”
Another suspect, Abdulraman Yusuf, who allegedly sold the fuel to the station, said he sold a 50-litre jerrycan to the station for N3,500 after buying it for N3,000 from the vandals.
He said, “I sold to the station on several occasions. Niyi (Fadaisi) was my customer and I have supplied him on several occasions.”
One of the militants, Timi Tamarawemeyedo, said he relocated to Ogijo when the gang leader, Ossy, wanted to kill him.
He said, “In May 2014 when Ossy abducted some policemen that attempted to stop our operation at the Arepo Creek, we begged him to spare their lives, but he refused. That was when I sensed he was too brutal and relocated to Ogijo with one of my brothers, Austin Ajama.
“We had been siphoning fuel smoothly from that end until recently when another group had a clash with the policemen on a patrol.
“That was what got the policemen angry and they launched a manhunt for us. I was arrested with Ajama and my driver, Oluwole Akingbeno.”
The Commander of the taskforce, CSP Valentine Olumese, said the suspects had made confessional statements, and they would be charged to court as soon as investigations were concluded.
