On Friday, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps’ Kwara State Command detained three individuals and captured 137 gallons of fuel filled by alleged smugglers.
The accused were reportedly attempting to sneak the goods out of the country via the Nigeria-Benin Republic border in the North Senatorial District of Kwara State.
According to Babawale Zaid Afolabi, a spokesperson for the NSCDC in the state, the corps’ crack and tactical Anti-Vandal team, led by the unit’s head, Ayinde Olatunde Yusuf, acted on intelligence information and a tip-off to apprehend the three suspects on their way to the Benin Republic with petroleum products loaded inside 137 kegs.
Jimoh Serifdeen, 19, Abdul Majid Saminu, 20, and Usman Muhammed, 18, were the three suspects apprehended.
Other alleged collaborators fled when they saw the NSCDC patrol team, according to the spokesman, and a manhunt has been launched to find them.
He went on to say that the petroleum was reportedly carried from a Wasmak filling station in Kaiama, the state’s headquarters for the Kaiama local government district.
The NSCDC has also locked up the filling station.
The head of the Anti Vandal Unit, Ayinde Olatubde Yusuf, who also led the operation, used the occasion to read the riot act to vandals and other economic saboteurs in the state, urging them to desist from their actions because the NSCDC and other security agencies are working hard to make life difficult for criminals.
While the manhunt for other gang members continues, the NSCDC’s Kwara State Commandant, Iskilu Ayinla Makinde, has instructed that the suspects be charged to court after the investigations are completed.
