Petrol smugglers will be brought to book – Bawa

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, on Tuesday vowed that smugglers of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in the country will face the full wrath of the law.

Mr Bawa issued this warning in a remark at a stakeholders’ engagement on high PMS evacuation, code named “Operation White 2“at the NNPC Towers.

He said the issue of smuggling of petroleum products in the country is worrisome, assuring that the EFCC is fully committed to the special operation designed to check the activities of the economic saboteurs.

According to him, “Nigerians can be rest assured that the EFCC under his watch, will do all that is possible to ensure that those found perpetrating the crime are brought to book, and justice is served for the benefit of all Nigerians”.

“We are all Nigerians, and as Nigerians we need a better country for ourselves, and the problems highlighted by the GMD (of NNPC) as well as the leader of Operation White…we in the EFCC, from the beginning, are happy to be part of this Operation White for the reason that, it is part of our responsibility to prevent as well as enforce laws that have to do with economic crimes,” he said.

Also speaking, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resource, Timipre Sylva, said the illegal export of PMS is something that needs to be checked.

He said Operation White 2 was commissioned less than a year ago, but he could not ascertain it’s effectively until the EFCC came into the picture.

“We brought in the big hammer, and the big hammer as you can see is EFCC, because it is economic sabotage and I believe with the EFCC in the picture, the system will work even better,” the minister said.

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Speaking earlier, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari, said the issue of PMS smuggling will no longer be business as usual, and “that is the major reason why the NNPC invited all the stakeholders.

“The President (Muhammadu Buhari) said we have to do everything possible to stop it. That is why we dragged the EFCC, Department of State Service, DSS, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, and Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, to help control the volume,” Mr Kyari said.