The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC), Abia State Command, has discovered large scale vandalism activities along the shell pipeline at the boundary between Ukwa West in Abia State and Oyigbo in Rivers State.
According to the State Commandant, Dr Benito Eze, the oil thieves took advantage of the vulnerability of the area to carry out the nefarious activities during the wee hours of the night.
Mr Eze hinted that the vandals normally come through the waterways to siphon the crude oil by fixing their nozzles and extending it 600 metres away to a another area, thereby defrauding the country of large amount of money daily.
Right now, most farmlands within the area have been destroyed as they have ben littered with cude oil; a situation which the state commandant says would not be tolerated any longer.
He then warned the vandals to seek alternative means of livelihood as anyone caught in the act would be made to face the full wrath of the law.
“Actually, I want to say that this act has been going on for quite some time, you know these vandals, when you combat them from here, they quickly devise another means the other way. But this time around, we are going to approach it holistically.
“As you can see, some of our officers have life jackets, some of them came through sea and with our intelligence surveillance, I believe we are going to tackle this vandalism menace effectively.
“I want to warn these vandals to find another means of livelihood because anyone caught would be made to face the full wrath of the law,” Eze stated.
Meanwhile a combined team of men of the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and men of the Directorate of State Security have come to a resolve that such acts would seize to continue.
