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Tag: Desmond Agu

  • NSCDC vows to shut down illegal security firms in Bayelsa

    NSCDC vows to shut down illegal security firms in Bayelsa

    The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has vowed to shut down unregistered security companies operating in Bayelsa State.

    The State Commandant, NSCDC, Mr. Desmond Agu, who spoke on Friday during a meeting between the command and the Association of Private Guards Companies (APGC), said unregistered companies were threats to security in the state.

    He said: “As from October this year, any unregistered security companies in the state will be embarrassed, sealed off and operators will be prosecuted. We have also written letters to illegal security operators to get their companies registered. If they fail, they will have the law to contend with.”

    Agu also warned vigilante members and private security men bearing unlicensed arms to desist from it.

    He said illegal arm bearers would be fished out and dealt with according to the law.

    In his remarks, Chairman, APGC, Col. D.T. Brown (retd.), assured the corps that his association would soon embark on retraining of its security personnel to function in line with contemporary times.

     

     

    In his comment, Managing Director, Innocave Guards Limited, Mr. Amoyah Freeborn, lamented that the business environment for PGCs was not favourable.

     

  • 60-year-old woman, four others arrested for oil theft

    A 60-year-old mother of 15 children has been arrested by the Bayelsa State command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for offences bordering on crude oil theft.

    The suspect identified as Victoria Sorkibulor, popularly called Mama Militant, was arrested at Fish Town, Southern Ijaw local government area of the state, by a special team of the NSCDC.

    She was paraded at the headquarters of the NSCDC in Yenagoa alongside two of her workers and two other suspects nabbed by the command for pipeline vandalism.

    Sorkibulor was said to be notorious for pipeline vandalism and illegal refining of petroleum products.

    Her workers reportedly led the security operatives to her hideout at Fish Town where she was rounded up and brought to Yenagoa.

    Parading the suspects on Monday, the state Commandant, NSCDC, Mr. Desmond Agu, said the suspects were nabbed for unlawful possession of adulterated and illegally refined petroleum products.

    He said 20 drums of illegally refined kerosene and Automated Gas Oil (AGO) were seized from the suspects.

    He explained that Sorkibulor was apprehended shortly after her workers were rounded up while evacuating their illegally refined product in a large wooden boat.

    He said while the boat was burnt at the point of arrest, the products were recovered for further investigations and prosecution.

    Agu said all the suspects were arrested on Sunday night at different locations in Southern Ijaw.

    He named other suspects as Goodnews Kurai, Babangida James, Daniel Sokebolou and David Ayibadigenmi.

    He said six Yamaha machines, three pumping machines, seven hoses and a locally-made boat were seized from the suspects.

    Agu vowed to prosecute the suspects, adding that the corps was determined to stop oil theft in the state.

    He said: “We are warning members of the public to desist from such inimical act. People should think of a better and lawful ways of earning a living. We are not going to rest on our oars until we fight illegal oil bunkering and pipeline vandalism to a standstill.”

    Reacting to the allegations, Sorkibulor confessed that she was formally into illegal oil theft including establishing illegal refineries.

    She, however, claimed to have repented before her arrest.

  • Suspects arrested with three wellheads

    Suspects arrested with three wellheads

    The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has arrested four men for allegedly dismantling three wellheads.

    Derateide Brutu (43), the leader of the gang, said he removed the wellheads to protest government’s inability to create jobs.

    NSCDC State Commandant Desmond Agu said the suspects were arrested at 3:30am by the anti-vandal unit of the command.

    He said they were nabbed at Korokorosei and Ondewari communities, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area.

    Other suspects are Tam Emiakpo, Epumokumo Timidise and Jeremiah Isong.

    Brutu, who hails from Sagbama, Sagbama Local Government Area, said politicians only remembered them during elections.

    The suspect caused a stir when he was asked what he intended to do with the wellheads.

    He said: “I want to use them for my own personal oil drilling. I was taking them to my destination when I was arrested.”

    The suspect maintained that there was nothing wrong in what he did and asked the government to judge him.

    Claiming that it was the first time, he begged the state Commandant to free the other suspects.

    “What I did was right. If it is against the Federal Government, then judge me.

    “If l may plead, leave these young men and then face me. I have not been doing this before. This is my first time,” he said.

    Timidise said he joined the gang to raise money for his school fees.

    Claiming to be a student of Agriculture and Environmental Administration at the Niger Delta University (NDU), he said he thought the gang was only involved in illegal refining of oil.

    He said the security operatives arrested them on their way back.

  • Navy nabs 25 oil theft suspects

    Navy nabs 25 oil theft suspects

    •Hand them over to NSCDC

    Central Naval Command (CNC) of the Nigerian Navy has arrested 25 suspects for allegedly stealing petroleum products at various points in the Niger Delta region.

    The suspects were rounded up by the troops of the Forward Operating Base, FORMOSO, Brass Local Government Area, in Bayelsa State.

    They were, however, handed over to the State Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Mr. Desmond Agu, for prosecution.

    In a brief ceremony to hand over the suspects to NSCDC yesterday, the Flag Officer, Commanding, CNC, Rear Admiral Sidi-Ali Usman said 12 of the suspects were arrested onboard a vessel christened, MT Eil Tank 123.

    Usman, who was represented in the event by Commodore Vincent Okeke, said the suspect included a cadet of the Nigerian Maritime Academy, Oron, who was on internship but had been released.

    He explained that the suspected vessel was arrested offshore Agbami oil field by the Nigerian Navy Ship ZARIA.

    He added that the ship was laden with 1, 241,000 litres of stolen crude oil without “necessary clearance or permit for movement of petroleum products particularly crude oil.”

    Usman said five of the suspects were apprehended onboard a large dug-out wooden boat offshore Brass River.

    “At the time of the arrest, the boat was loaded with about 60,000 litres of product suspected to be crude oil. She neither had documents to show proof of purchase nor permit from relevant regulatory agencies for crude oil lifting,” he said.

    He added that nine suspects were nabbed onboard another vessel which was loaded with 870,000 litres of crude oil.

    He said: “This handing over re-emphasises the determination of the Chief of the Naval Staff to completely eradicate crude oil theft from the nation’s maritime domain.”

     

  • Oil theft: Civil defence prosecutes four suspects

    Oil theft: Civil defence prosecutes four suspects

    •Probes 14

    •Trains 230 officers

    The Bayelsa State Command of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) said yesterday that it was prosecuting the four persons it arrested in the creeks for vandalism and oil theft.

    State Commandant Mr. Desmond Agu said of the 18 arrested by the command for oil theft and vandalism last year, four were on trial at the Federal High Court.

    Agu said over 230 officers were trained in arms handling and internal security at the 343 Artillery Regiment, Nigerian Army, Elele.

    He said 14 other suspects were under investigation and would be arraigned later.

    Agu said anybody nabbed for economic crime would be tried to act as a deterrent to others.

    According to him, the war against vandals received a boost last year after the NSCDC national headquarters in Abuja allocated a patrol boat to the command.

    He said following the introduction of the boat, the command joined other security stakeholders, such as the Navy, Marine Police and the Joint Task Force (JTF) Operation Pulo Shield, in patrolling the creeks.

    Agu said oil companies, such as Shell and Agip had engaged his anti-vandal unit to protect their pipelines.

    “This action has reduced the activities of vandals on our waterways and along the pipelines,” he added.

    He said over 30 operatives had been deployed in government infrastructure for patrol.

    The NSCDC commandant said the command had also maintained a 24-hour surveillance on the assets owned by the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED) and telecommunications companies.

    Agu, who listed the achievements of the command, said: “In the area of peace and conflict resolution, NSCDC has intervened and resolved conflicts, ranging from communal to maternal crisis.

    He added: “Some of the cases are the Ikolo community in Yenagoa and Amasoma community in Southern Ijaw; Otuabula versus Ewoi community in Ogbia Local Government; funeral crisis in Ogbarasi, the Obanacle of Owema community in Ogbia and Olugbene and oil company.”