The Joint Task Force, JTF, tagged Operation Pulo Shield, which was set up to secure the Eastern maritime waterways from criminal activities, has announced that it has arrested an Assistant Superintendent of Police, ASP, for illegal oil bunkering, in addition to uncovering and raiding a large oil depot where diesel was stored in drums in Calabar, Cross River State.
Despite the clampdown on illegal bunkering, perpetrators of the business in Calabar and Bakassi Local Government Areas have persisted.
The Public Relations Officer of the 13 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Captain Joseph James, credited the latest discovery of illegal bunkering and the arrest to effective intelligence gathering by the army.
Captain James said the raid, which was led by Major Abdulmaleek Mohammed from the Brigade led to the arrest of six persons including an ASP for illegal bunkering.
““Following a tip-off, the Commander of 13 Brigade, Brigadier-General Shehu Yusuf, immediately ordered the JTF to raid the depot, which is in a hideout, off Mesembe Avenue, in the Anantigha area and close to the headquarters of the Calabar South Local Government Area of the state,” the spokesman said.
He showed reporters nearly 8,000 drums of diesel and fuel well arranged, which suggested that expertly planned operations that had even required the dredging of the canals to bring in the products.
“It appears that the illegal bunkering business had been on for some time before the intelligence report came in.”