Police arrest suspected oil thieves

The police in Akwa Ibom State have arrested two suspected illegal oil bunkers with stolen crude oil.

The police spokesperson in the state, Timfon John, disclosed this in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday.

Ms John, a deputy superintendent of police, said the suspects were arrested by the marine police on 2 August at Okposo waterways in Mbo Local Government Area of the state.

“Acting on credible intelligence, the marine police mobilised two gunboats to the location where a large wooden boat was sighted, laden with what is suspected to be stolen crude oil. The vessel was reportedly sailing towards the maritime border between Nigeria and the Republic of Cameroon.

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“The swift action of the marine police led to the apprehension of the two suspects and the recovery of the boat and its contents. The petroleum product is believed to have been stolen from the wellhead of an oil pipeline,” she said.

Criminal activities, particularly kidnapping-for-ransom, appear to be on the rise in the area, a coastal community, a situation that prompted Governor Umo Eno to request an army battalion to be stationed in the area.

This newspaper in April reported how gunmen suspected to be pirates abducted 20 passengers who were travelling in a boat from Oron in Akwa Ibom State to Cross River State, Nigeria’s South-south.

Oron is a nearby local government to Mbo, where the suspected illegal oil bunkers were arrested.

Passengers travelling to and from the two sister states prefer to travel by water because the Calabar-Itu Federal Highway is deplorable.

There has been an increase in reported cases of crime in the state recently, and the police have recorded a series of breakthroughs in combating it.

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The report of the latest arrest of oil thieves is coming a day after police operatives in the state killed a leader of a notorious armed robbery gang.

The police spokesperson, in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Monday, said the slain gang leader, identified as Imoh Akpan from Ikot Uboh, was a key figure in several armed robberies and acts of terror in Ikot Ekpene and its surroundings.

A locally made gun and two expended live cartridges were recovered from the slain suspect, Ms John said.