Olaleye Aluko
A commercial driver, Jide Falayo, who
was arrested by the police in Lagos State, has said he was paid N3,000
daily to transport fuel from vandalised pipelines for distribution.
Falayo added that he conveyed the products from Ijedodo and Ijegun to the Isolo area of the state.
Falayo said this while being paraded alongside 11 other suspects.
We learnt that the
suspected vandals, who included a married woman, were arrested by the
Inspector-General of Police Task Force on Anti-Pipeline Vandalism in the
Ijegun area of Lagos last Friday while acting on a tip-off.
It was gathered that the suspects
allegedly sneaked into the area on the fateful day with two tankers and a
Nissan bus to vandalise pipelines.
According to the police, the suspects
were loading the fuel into the vehicles when they were caught and taken
to the Ikotun Police Division for preliminary interrogation.
Our correspondent learnt that a total of
42,800 litres of petrol were recovered from the suspects while the
vehicles were also seized.
Speaking with PUNCH Metro,
Falayo, who drove the Nissan bus, said his role was to transport the
loaded kegs to customers in the Isolo area, adding that he was paid
N3,000 on a daily basis by a vandal, who he identified only as Baba Ope.
Falayo added that he drove the stolen fuel for about two months because he could not secure a better job.
He said, “I was invited by Baba Ope in
September 2015. He is my boss, and he also owns the Nissan bus. My work
is to drive the bus anytime they load it with kegs of petrol. I usually
convey the fuel to Isolo. I wanted to deliver the goods to the customers
when I was arrested.
“I do not know what the customers do
with the fuel. I was arrested with 28 containers and each one carries
about 1,000 litres. Baba Ope had assured me that there was no way I
would be arrested since he had a good relationship with the police.
“I was surprised when I was arrested.
When the policemen arrested me, they asked me to take them to my boss’
house but unfortunately, we did not meet him at home. The police are
still looking for him.”
Another suspect, Azeez Suleiman, said he
was forced into vandalism by armed vandals who threatened to kill him
if he did not cooperate with them.
He said, “I am a truck driver and I was
invited by one of my friends who normally looked for jobs for me to take
my truck to Ijegun for loading. I did not know it was a vandals’ base.
When I got there, I saw the vandals and my friend lied that they were
security men patrolling the area. After parking my truck, I saw a boat
loaded with containers of fuel. Minutes later, they started to load the
containers into my truck.
“When I saw this, I protested and wanted
to go back, but the vandals beat me up, and threatened to kill me if I
resisted. That was how I conveyed their fuel. My friend was helpless. I
was beaten to the point where I had no option but to agree with them. It
was while I was about leaving the area that the police arrested us. The
vandals had fled.”
The Commander of the Task Force, CSP
Valentine Olumhense, confirmed the arrests. He said the recovered petrol
would be returned to the appropriate authorities, while those arrested
would also be prosecuted.
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