The Abia State command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has arrested three men and held a truck suspected to be carrying stolen crude oil.
The state commandant of the NSCDC, Dr Benito Eze urged pipeline vandals, baby factory operators and child traffickers to desist, saying his men will give them more than they bargained for.
Speaking in Umuahia while parading the suspects, Eze who assumed office this month, said that his men arrested the suspects at Ala-Oji along Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway.
to be 33,000 litres of crude oil, adding that unrefined petroleum product is a national asset which the command has the obligation to protect.
He gave the names of the suspects as Godwin Nkadi, 43, from Delta State, Stephen Peter, 28, from Benue State and Dauda Mutari, 31, also from Delta.
The commandant said that in the course of the investigation the suspects said that the product belongs to one Chief Odenigbo who resides in Aba, but that they were taking the suspected substance to Anambra State.
Eze said that one of the suspects revealed that they forged a waste disposal way bill to enable them transport the suspected stolen petroleum product safely to the place the owner wanted them to offload it.
He said that the command was making progress in the investigations and that soon, the suspects will be transferred to the state police command for further questioning and possibly prosecution.
The commandant used to opportunity to advise the public not to sabotage the economy of the country through vandalism, warning that anyone so caught will be punished.
Answering questions from reporters, Nkadi said that they loaded condemned oil from Port Harcourt to Anambra State when they were caught by the men of NSCDC, stressing that they were not carrying crude oil.