Adedayo Odulaja

Men of the Pipeline Surveillance Right of Way yesterday arrested a policeman, a woman and two others for alleged oil bunkering at the New Oko Oba area of Lagos.
Led by a man whose name was given simply as King, the team stormed a hotel in the area about 2.30.a.m. and arrested the policeman, identified as Lukman, and his alleged accomplice.
Lukman, said to be formerly of Area G Police Station in Ogba, allegedly acted as the security officer of the bunkering operation for months and was fending off any untoward enquiry into activities at the hotel.
The hotel, located opposite the Water Gate Hotels on Social Club Road, New Oko Oba, was allegedly being used for the diversion of thousands of litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly called petrol.
The security team, working directly with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to check pipeline vandalism and oil bunkering, stationed at least four patrol vehicles on the road yesterday. Around, in different locations also, were about four petrol tankers either fully loaded already or being loaded when the team swooped on the bunkerers.
Bizarrely, officers of the Ijaiye Police Station, who were accused of rushing to the area to help the suspects, were also apprehended by the heavily armed team of men numbering about 40. The four policemen, all from Ijaiye Ojokoro Police Station, were made to sit on the bare floor when our correspondent got to the scene.
The policemen, who were accused of always aiding the bunkerers while loading of fuel went on, were overpowered after having driven into the hotel and quickly drawing their weapons when the hotel owners reached out to them.
With “UTM” pinned to the right of their branded Polo shirts along with “King Young Lion” directly under the NNPC logo on the left, the armed men seemed committed to what they said was their avowed duty despite being owed months of salaries and allowances by government, even if a bit unruly.
“The people we have arrested as such are those involved in oil bunkering. There is an NNPC pipeline that runs through this area and they have vandalised it and are always diverting fuel into tankers from the hotel. It is something they have been doing for a long time but the end has come to their activities now.
“We have been here since 2.30a.m. and there are about tankers around. Even the tanks you see inside the hotel, which are supposed to contain water for the facility, are filled with petrol and they bring in tankers regularly to take it away and nobody knows that is what they really do. The hotel is just a cover-up. We did not harass those who are there as guests but we only dealt with the workers who cannot claim not to know about what was going on,” a member of the team, who gave his name as Wale, told our correspondent.
Also, Gladys, a receptionist at the hotel who said she started working there on September 5, said: “What I used to see is that there are some guests that always come in the night with fuel and the security will offload it. I started working here on September 5 and I met Mr. Lukman here, he has been sleeping here since then and has always been here. They told me that he is the SP here, with another man like that. The last time they worked on fuel apart from this one was on Monday.”
When interrogated, Lukman confessed to being one of the ring leaders of the bunkering operation in the hotel while taking journalists and officials around some of the tools used for diverting fuel from the pipeline.
When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Olarinde Famous-Cole, said no policeman was involved in the bunkering.
He said: “We have arrested the bunkerers and they are in police custody. We are still investigating the case. If any policeman is involved, we will make it public.”

https://newtelegraphonline.com/2017/10/policeman-three-others-arrested-lagos-oil-bunkering/