By; PATRICK TITUS, Uyo
No fewer than 69 suspects have been arrested in connection with oil theft and pipelines vandalization in Akwa Ibom state within the last three months.
The State Commandant of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Mr Abidemi Majekodunmi, disclosed this in an interaction with newsmen in Uyo on Thursday.
Majekodunmi said the corps has the mandate to protect government critical infrastructure and ensure that economic saboteurs in the state were brought to a standstill.
“In the first quarter of the year, we placed significant emphasis on the protection of critical national assets and infrastructure.
“Here in Akwa Ibom, we do know that the network of pipelines are much and definitely we have criminal and non state actors tampering with the pipelines for economic profiteering and sabotage.
“What we have done is to ensure that we deploy intelligence, capitals and assets to make sure that we do activities that serve as deterrent to these non state actors, that were always eager to steal petroleum products.
“When we get quality intelligence, we plan and execute operations to make arrests. We also have, currently, about seven boats. In that particular case, we have 69 suspects, illegal dealers in petroleum products.
“They have been charged to court and of course, we have made investigations and done a profiling, so those cases are currently in Court, for the Court to do the appropriate adjudication,” Majekodunmi said.
According to him, the command is proactive in intelligence gathering across the 31 Local Government Areas of the state, to nib crimes in the bud.
He said that the suspects had been charged to court for prosecution, adding that the law would have to take it course and those found guilty would face the wrath of the law.
The state commandant called on communities with critical government infrastructure to see the infrastructure as their own and protect them against vandalism.
He said the Civil Defence must continue to promote crisis management and be proactive in dealing with conflict situations in the state through peace and conflict resolution.
The Commandant added that NSCDC over the years had deployed technology in fighting crimes so that they reach all criminal hideouts at ease in the state.
Majekodunmi called on the media to ensure objectivity in their reportage to guarantee peace and national security across Akwa Ibom and the country.
