Police operatives attached to the IGP Special Task Force on Petroleum and Illegal Bunkering (IGP-STFPIB) arrested two suspects after they successfully busted an illegal petroleum refining operation in Edo State in the late hours of August 7, 2022.
The operatives made the arrest after a whistle blower alerted police on the activities of an alleged illicit petroleum products refining syndicate operating adjacent to Agbor Junction, Benin City, Edo State, through the recently created Nigeria National Petroleum Company’s (NNPC) Command and Control Centre Portal.
The Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, who confirmed this in a statement, disclosed that three empty DAF trucks, 31 immobile surface tanks, seven of which were loaded with unspecified quantity of petroleum products, were discovered by the Police at the raid on the illegal petroleum refining site.
The FPRO gave the arrested suspects’ names as Chinedu Iyanabor, aged 18, and Sunday Iyagbesun aged 52.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the site was also used as a dumpsite for petroleum products.
CSP Adejobi said that the suspects would be charged to court after the investigations had been concluded.
He added that the Inspector General of Police had tasked special enforcement units on prevention of activities of economic saboteurs.
The IGP also directed the units to ensure the deployment of necessary manpower and other operational assets to clampdown on criminal activities that would impede the economic growth of the nation.
