Sixteen suspects have been arrested by the Special Taskforce set up by the Oyo State Government to get rid of shanties and other sorts of illegalities on major roads in the state when it busted diesel black market on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
Recovered by the Taskforce were four drums of diesel and 17 kegs of different litres.
It vowed to prosecute the black marketers in line with the commitment of the Governor ‘Seyi Makinde administration to secure the state road corridors and curb criminal activities on the highways.
Speaking with newsmen at the Oyo State Road Transport Management Authority (OYRTMA) Office, Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan, the Executive Assistant to the Governor on Security Matters, who also doubles as the Head of the Special Task Force, CP Sunday Odukoya (rtd), said that the arrests were aimed at clearing the highways of criminal activities and illegal shanty operations.
He disclosed that the suspects were apprehended around the Senator Rashidi Ladoja Circular Road axis close to Guru Maharaj Ji village, where they sell diesel suspected to be adulterated, adding that there were also suspicion that those engaging in illegal business on the highways might be connected with criminality on the highway.
He stated that the suspects ignored several warnings and deadlines issued to black market operators to stop the illegal business.
Odukoya said: “We work on clearing operations to make sure that people travelling on the highways drive safely from their destination to wherever they are heading to.
“We discovered that a lot of times, along that route, we see all sorts of crimes and we suspected that these crimes were being perpetrated by people around those areas.
“We have given them more than enough time to clear all these shanties and stop selling adulterated diesel on the road, because road users were facing a lot of problems in that axis.
“Today, we moved out with our team, and we were able to arrest about 15 men and one woman, making 16, in these illegal activities.
“They are going to be prosecuted directly, because we have the court, the Task Force Enforcement Mobile Court that will try them now.
“We are conducting constant raids to end this illegality and we will not relent in our actions until we end criminality in that axis.”
One of the suspects, Mustapha Bolaji, who spoke, admitted that he had been selling black market diesel for over six years, explaining that they buy the petroleum product from trailer drivers and resell to vehicles and companies.
He, however, denied that they were adulterating the product.
“We don’t mix the diesel. We are only three in our own shop and we buy and sell. We were warned before, but we didn’t get any formal message about vacating. That’s why we are here,” Bolaji said.
